


The Power of Illusions

by ScarletteFox718



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Brainwashing, Character Death, M/M, Mild Gore, Mind Control, Multi, Rape In later chapters, Super Powers AU, Violence, more tags and relationships added as they come up, secret agency AU, sort of, they all have different abilities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-08-28 19:34:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 47,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8460307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletteFox718/pseuds/ScarletteFox718
Summary: S.B.U.R.B.A group of people who are different and strange: They each wield a different power. In essence, perhaps they are superheroes without the names or the fame. They are the unsung heroes that tackle foes day and night from the shadows. They use their powers for good.L.O.R.D.A group of people who are different and strange: Power wielding villains who intend to show the world the true meaning of fear. Their desire is to bring to light their powers and make the normal citizens of the world kneel in reverence and fear.A classic battle of good versus evil. However, when one of the S.B.U.R.B. members is captured by the leader of L.O.R.D., the other members of S.B.U.R.B. must band together to save him, all the while, one of them is quickly realizing his true feelings for his best bro.[I AM WRITING THIS FOR NANOWRIMO SO IT IS 100% UNEDITED]





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I will state here as well that this is my NaNoWriMo Novel for this year. As such, I will be rushing to pump out 50,000+ words in this month alone. That means, the entirety of this work will be unedited until December rolls around. Then, I will edit the shit out of this. Until then, please refrain from editing related comments unless there is truly something you do not understand.

You never know what you have until you lose it. You can never truly appreciate things until they’re gone. Loss is a big part of anyone’s life, but when you lose your best friend to the enemy, things hit a little harder. When you lose your best friend to the enemy, only then do you realize just how important he was to you and how much you… may even love him. These were things one Dave Strider would learn when his best friend would be taken away from him by the enemy organization, L.O.R.D. The start to this story is a simple one, however, as most stories with love and loss have.

  
  


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“Dude, come on. This is the sickest beat I’ve created in like, a week.”

“It’s pretty good, but it’s not your best Dave. I really liked the one you made a couple months ago.”

“Pyrocumulus? Seriously? That was so 2 months ago, John. This one is so much better, even if I don’t have a name for it yet.” A pale, blond-haired 20-year-old leaned back in his computer chair and stared at his friend from behind a pair of aviator shades. Dave Strider was his name. He gestured to his computer speakers, the drop of a beat sounding through them as an amalgamation of other components worked together to create a unique song. A tanned, black-haired young man, the same age as the other, just shook his head, eyelids hiding his crystalline blue orbs.

“No, Dave. I like this one, but I liked Pyrocumulus better. It had a little more ‘umpf’ behind it. I don’t know.” John Egbert shrugged and laid back on his friend’s bed, arms up behind his head. The action caused his square glasses to drop onto the bridge of his nose, having slid down it before he moved. “Also, don’t you have air conditioning at all? It’s stupid hot in here.”

“You sure it’s the heat or is it just me?” That comment earned the blond a pillow to the head.

“You’re an asshole, Dave. I get you can manipulate fire and shit, but you don’t have to constantly make jokes about it. You can’t very well be a ‘cool kid’ if you are ‘too hot to handle.’” John laughed at his own phrasing. Dave just frowned minutely and tossed the pillow back at his friend.

“At least I’m not the asshole constantly playing pranks on everyone here. The bucket of water above a door and then the gust of feather-filled wind stops being funny after the first time.” John grinned in pride.

“I don’t care! It totally raises my pranksters’ gambit to mess with you guys like that. Plus, this is really the only place I can mess around with the wind and not be shunned or called a demon or anything else.” A look of melancholy crossed John’s face, his eyes taking on a saddened hurt that accompanied being ostracized like they all were. That made Dave pause before talking again.

“I know, John. Why do you think I always keep my room hotter? It’s the only place I can really control the temperature without pissing people off. Sure, each of our powers are relatively subtle, but we can’t really do a whole lot with it like Rose and Jade can. Their abilities in the art of being subtle are unmatched. It’s like-”

“Please for the love of God, do NOT go on one of your dumb, metaphorical rants. They are dumb for a reason.” Just as Dave was about to answer, there was a knock at his door. A rich, Texan accent came through, just a few steps lower than Dave’s own voice.

“Dave, John, dinner’s ready in the dining room. Come on up.”

“Thanks, Dirk. We’ll be there shortly,” answered John, standing and stretching. Dave watched the other’s action, taking note of the strong muscles in his arms and legs flexing and extending. His eyes traced the flat stomach of his best friend and almost made their way further down, but John started moving toward the door.

“Come on, Dave. I’m starving.”

“When are you not hungry?” Dave asked, standing as well and sweeping a hand across his bangs, making sure they were in place and out of his face.

“Hmm…. Very rarely, actually.” John laughed and opened the door, exiting the room and leaving Dave to follow behind him. “Hey, Dave. Want to race to the dining room? Your flash step versus my wind manipulation?” Blue eyes danced with mischief. Dave shrugged, moving his head side-to-side and stretching just a little.

“Sure, why not? I mean, I’ll beat you anyway. I always do.” He looked at his friend who was already hovering just a little above the ground. John smirked at Dave and took a starting stance.

“We’ll see about that. I’ve been working more on my speed.” Dave took his own stance.

“Sure we will. Ready?”

“Set.”

The ‘Go’ was implied as the two moved, John manipulating the air around him and behind him into propelling him forward as fast as it could. He’d been practicing due to his desire to learn how to make a tornado to use against others. Dave could also move exceptionally fast thanks to his Bro teaching him how to move lightly and quickly. He was a blur, moving as fast as he was, but he was neck and neck with John. The other truly had significantly increased his speed. He was actually giving Dave a run for his money.

The two ran through the facility, almost having to fight each other to fit the stairwell until Dave pushed ahead of John. The one with aerokinesis frowned and pushed himself just a little harder as the two exited the stairs onto the main floor, surpassing Dave ever so slightly. Both of them switched positions a couple more times as the dining room came into view. A light sheen of sweat was beginning to make itself present on John for his exertion of his power, but he pushed ever so slightly more and all but broke through the dining room doors seconds before Dave appeared inside. The blond wasn’t even breaking a sweat while John heaved and sank to the floor, the wind around him dissipating.

“Well hot damn, Egbert. You actually did win. Good job.” John just sneered at Dave slightly while he regained his breath.

“Honestly, you two. Must you consistently make every little thing a competition?” The young men glanced over to the owner of the voice, a young woman with pale skin and blonde hair. Her blue eyes, so light in coloring they looked purple, stared back with mild amusement as her black lips turned up into a small smile. This young woman was Rose Lalonde, a distant cousin to Dave and his older brother, Dirk.

“Of course, sister dear. Everything has to be a competition or life just isn’t as fun,” Dave answered. John, having finally calmed down enough, stood and spoke as well.

“Not everything is a competition for us, Rose. I just wanted to test out my speed against him.”

“And clearly, my brother dearest let you win to boost your confidence. Unless,” she turned to Dave, her smile turning to a smirk, “you actually lost, Dave?” Dave chose to ignore her and take his seat at the table full of his friends. “My, my, my. You actually lost. That is quite the shock, wouldn’t you say, Kanaya?” Rose turned to the woman to her right. Jade green eyes met hers as a perfectly shaped eyebrow rose. Her name was Kanaya Maryam.

“Honestly, Rose? I cannot quite find myself caring about their silly competitions seeing as they happen so often. While, yes, Dave is usually the winner, John’s successes are not so uncommon that they warrant a response as the one you have given.” Rose chuckled and turned back to Dave as another friend spoke up.

“I think the little competitions are fun to watch! I’d like to join in sometime, too, guys.” A tanned young woman with brilliant green eyes hidden behind circular frames and messy black hair smiled at her friends as John took his seat next to her. She went by the name of Jade Harley.

“That’d be so much fun, Jade! Yeah, you can totally join in sometime! Right, Dave?” Before the other could answer, a few older adults walked in with food to place on the table. There was a wide spread of meats, veggies, salad, and pasta. Dinner was always quite the affair for all those who resided in the facility. After all, looking after 11 young adults with strange powers called for a constant need for a variety of foods. The types of people that sat at the table were varied from carnivores to vegan, from excitable to perpetually angry, from emotional to logical. These were all young adults who’d essentially been cast out from their respective hometowns for having their powers. They’d been mocked, bullied, feared, threatened. Some of them had even undergone exorcisms before they’d been found and taken in by a secret agency for people with powers like theirs called S.B.U.R.B - Society of Brilliantly Unique Renegade Blasphemers. They were given a shelter within a facility only known as H.O.M.E - Headquarters of Mysterious Entities. Its location was unknown to most, being hidden away on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

It was a high-tech facility that allowed the young adults to practice all of their powers and to hone them in return for them keeping the city safe from any others with powers that sought to wreak havoc. In a way, they were almost like superheroes, but without the fame, the fortune, or the glory. They did what they had to in order to keep people safe and to survive.

Once the dinner was placed on the table, everyone began reaching for things, asking others to be passed, and partaking in their meal. Conversations budded throughout, laughter echoing in the large room as everyone ate. Most of the younger members of S.B.U.R.B. had been together for several years, some having even grown up in the facility (namely the Lalondes - Rose and her twin sister, Roxy) seeing as their guardians worked for the agency. S.B.U.R.B. was a large organization, but the members that were the closest were the kids. They’d all become fast and tight friends, welcoming in anyone new with open arms. They shared with each other their stories of coming into their powers and what their respective hometowns did to them in their fear. As a result of their closeness, they always ate at least dinner together to feel that camaraderie.

“Oh my god, will you just shut the fuck up, Strider?!” A loud, gruff voice lofted over everyone else’s, causing a few heads to turn while others just ignored it. It was a common occurrence at dinnertime, after all.

“All I’m saying, Kit-Kat, is that you and I could work together to create like, the greatest weapons ever. I mean, I control heat and you control iron, right? Don’t you want to work on that power?” Dave pointed his fork at a young man with messy black hair and hard, almost red, eyes. Karkat Vantas was his name, and he often fought verbally (and occasionally, physically) with Dave. The two very rarely saw eye-to-eye on things. Not to mention, Dave loved poking fun at the perpetually angry young man, insisting he needed to lighten up so he could be a cool kid, too.

“RAUGH! I DON’T CONTROL IRON, YOU IGNORANT ASSMUNCH OF A TWAT-STAIN! I CONTROL BLOOD! THE HEMOGLOBIN IN BLOOD! NOT THE IRON! GO EAT A HAIRY BALLSACK, YOU PIECE OF SHIT! Why the fuck would I ever want to work with you willingly anyway?” Karkat shoved a fork-full of chicken in his mouth as he finished yelling. Dave shrugged minutely.

“I don’t know. Because I’m the shit? And we could do amazing things together?”

“As fucking if. You are A shit. Not THE shit. Get it right. And stop talking to me.” At that point, John piped in, mischievous smile on his face.

“Aw, come on, Karkat! You and Dave actually do work really well together when you’re put on the same team. Sure, there’s a little tension, but you two do amazingly when paired up.” He happily put another spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth.

“I have to agree with John on this, Karkat. You are undeniably capable of working well with any single one of us here at this table when you are instructed to do so. I cannot understand why you would be so coarse and abject to the idea of teaming up with any one of us willingly,” Kanaya stated with a matter-of-fact tone, delicately taking another bite of her rare cooked meat. Kanaya and Karkat had come from the same hometown, being first cousins and each coming into their powers around the age of 14. Their older siblings had never shown any sort of power, and the two were actually a little sad to be separated from them. They understood, however, that it was necessary, seeing as Karkat’s father was a pastor and believed his son and niece to have been taken over by demons. They’d been taken in as soon as word got out of the local pastor exorcising his own family.

“Why the hell are you agreeing with that dick munch? Kanaya, I thought you were smarter than that. You’re the only one I’d work with willingly here.”

“And it’s because you still don’t fully trust everyone at this table despite knowing some of them for 6 years, am I right?” Karkat’s frown deepened, and he returned to eating silently, ignoring all other conversation around him. John met Kanaya’s gaze and shrugged, the other simply shaking her head and turning back to Rose to continue their conversation. John, in the meantime, gave his attention to Jade. When glancing at them, one would think they were siblings or related in some way, sharing a similar skin-tone and build. However, Jade was rescued from an island off the coast of California, somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, along with her brother. Her brother, however, had gone missing about 2 years prior and was presumed dead. They’d searched high and low for the young man but never found so much as a footprint left behind. Jade had been devastated and was only coming back into her own after a year and half. She was getting back her perky self and was able to keep a smile on that was genuine.

“So, have you been working more on subtle ground movements?” John asked. Jade finished chewing her chicken and turned to him to answer.

“Yeah! It’s been really hard to learn how to control the earth in a way that people won’t notice, but the instructors tell me that I’m doing really well and catching on quickly. I’m just doing my best, though!” John smiled at her.

“That’s amazing, though! I haven’t even gotten to learning how to use the wind without people noticing I’m doing anything. Apparently, I still haven’t learned how to school my expression. I make faces when I’m trying to do things, I guess.” He laughed as Jade nodded.

“You really do. You should have seen your face when you burst in from your race with Dave. It was so screwed up in concentration, I thought you were constipated or something,” she teased, causing John to groan.

“Come on, Jade. It can’t have been that bad.”

“It was! It was awful, really. I can see why you can’t do anything subtle yet.” The young woman loved to tease her friends, John usually being on the receiving end of it in retribution for all the pranks he played on the others.

“That’s just mean. You know I want to start learning how! I want to be able to go out and about more regularly with some of you guys.” He pouted, pushing his empty plate away from him as he waited for dessert to be brought out. Jade laughed at him and finished her own food before turning to him and ruffling his hair.

“You’ll get it, John! I know you will. It’ll just come naturally to you one day, and you won’t have to concentrate so hard to do things with it. Just like with your super strength. You’ve learned to control that, haven’t you?” John nodded and readjusted his glasses.

“Yeah… I guess. I mean, it took me several years to be able to perfect my strength control. So, now that I’ve really started coming into my wind powers, I guess it’ll take a little while longer, yeah?” Jade was like an older sister… much like the one he lost years ago. John had come into his strength and wind powers when he was 6. His older sister had come into her own powers at the same age and been taken away 2 years before he had. When he was brought in, he’d been so excited to finally see her again, only to discover that she never made it. Something happened to her in transit to the facility, and no one ever knew what happened to her. The driver had come back empty-handed, not even remembering why he’d been on the road in the first place. He had no idea who the child he’d been instructed to retrieve was.

“Of course! You can do it, John! All of us here believe in you.” Jade leaned in closer and spoke in a whisper. “Even Karkat, believes in you. I know he doesn’t show it, but he does.” She returned to her regular speaking voice. “You’re super important here, you know. You kinda brought us all together, anyway.” John regained a small smile.

“Yeah, I know. I still don’t know what it was about me that made us all so close, but I’ll take your word for it.”

“It was your kindness, duh! You were kind to everyone and welcomed everyone in and made us all feel better about our situations,” Jade explained, matter-of-factly. At that point, the dishes were all cleared away and several types of desserts were brought out. The same happened with the desserts as did with the dinner - everyone grabbed for what they wanted and passed when others asked.

“Yes, John. You even got Roxy and I to start talking more with the others that ended up here, much to our chagrin. || We were perfectly happy being isolated and talking only with ourselves, but you had to come in and get everyone to be with one another,” Rose added in with a joking tone. Her older twin, Roxy, joined in as well.

“Oh. Em. Gee! I loved that you did that, Johnny! Now I have such good friends here with Dirky and Davey and Terezi and all y’all! It’s totally amazing!” Roxy Lalonde looked very similar to her younger twin, being pale and blonde with strange colored eyes. Hers were almost a pink, making some of the adults wonder if she and Rose had various forms of albinism. Nothing was ever confirmed, however. Not even by their mother, a research scientist in the facility. Their mother, Rolanda Lalonde, studied the young adults specifically to figure out why they had the powers they did. She believed herself to be relatively close to an answer, but everyone knew she probably wouldn’t figure anything out in the coming months like she thought.

“Uh, you’re welcome, Roxy. ...I think.” John smiled sheepishly at her. Before anything else could be said by anyone else at the table, the head of the facility walked in. He went by the name of Sage Nitram, and he was a tall, broad man who had super strength as well as an ability to commune with any kind of animal. He had a son named Tavros who sat among the young adults, sharing the ability to speak with animals. Everyone looked up at their boss.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your dessert time, but I need John, Dave, Rose, and Jade to come with me. We have a Code 4 in the city.” The four called by name all pushed their plates away and stood, making their way to the door with Sage. They knew a Code 4 was a power wielder terrorizing a small part of the city with a mildly strong power. Code 4’s required a 4 man team being sent out to subdue and bring in the offender to be monitored by the facility until he/she could be reintroduced to society.

There were a number of different codes for the types of crime and terrorization that happened within the city brought on by other power wielders. Code 4 was getting up there, Codes 3, 2, and 1 being the most serious and requiring a larger team being sent out. The larger the number attached to the Code, the less people needed to be sent out and vice versa with the smaller the number, the more people needing to be sent out. Codes 3-1 were the most serious, requiring a large team, usually of older adults. There’d only been one Code 1 since most of the young adults had been taken in. Unfortunately, it resulted in the death of the power wielder due to how severe the situation had been. There was no hope of reintroducing him into society, so the team had been forced to end his life. Philadelphia had needed some major reconstruction afterward, all of which the facility paid for - anonymously of course.

John, Rose, Dave, and Jade followed Sage into the debriefing room, taking seats at the table as their boss moved to the front.

“Alright, you four. You’ve been selected for this Code 4 because he appears to be an element manipulator as well. He’s displayed some terrakinetic powers, using them to break into several banks to rob them. Your mission is to disable and bring him in for rehabilitation with as minimal damages as possible. Understood?” The four nodded in affirmation of their orders, standing and moving to the weapons room. True, they didn’t need anything extensive, but carrying some small things made them all feel better. They only ever used their powers against those that had them, too. If any normal people were involved in the crimes, the weapons were used then.

“Dude, don’t go for the warhammer. You don’t need it,” Dave chided John, who reached for his trusty weapon of choice.

“John, for once, listen to Dave. This is only a Code 4. Your strength is more than enough,” chimed in Rose. John frowned and replaced his beloved hammer as Dave grabbed his katana, Jade grabbed a tranquilizer rifle, and Rose went for a gun and knife along with rope.

“Fine. I’ll just go with my strength then… Bye, Casey. I’ll miss you.” He kissed the weapon before moving to the front of the four, assuming his position as quasi-leader. “Does everyone have their weapons? Are you all ready to go?” he questioned. They hadn’t needed to change due to always wearing outfits they can fight in. While they believed themselves to be similar to superheroes, there was no need for fancy outfits. They all pretty much wore stretchy pants, a generic shirt, and shoes they were able to move in. It was part of their image to not HAVE an image. They worked from the shadows as much as they could, and if they couldn’t be distinguished from anyone else in the agency, all the better.

The other three gave their respective responses that they were ready as Jade tied her long hair up in a ponytail, using one of the colorful bands she liked to wear on her fingers. Both John and Jade also grabbed the straps to attach to their glasses to make sure they wouldn’t fall off during the mission. Dave said he had no need for one as his glasses never fell off (because he was a cool kid, thank you very much).

Once all of them were completely ready to go, John led the way out of the facility, keeping the group to the shadows as they all moved stealthily and quickly through the outskirts of the city to the heart of it where there was mild havoc being wrought.

In front of them was a Chase bank, one of the biggest in the city. At the front of it was a man with short, brown hair that was moving the concrete sidewalk to bust into the building, scaring the civilians that happened to be near. In the distance, sirens were sounding, indicating the police were on the wielder’s tail. John looked at Rose, who nodded to him. They would have to be quick. Very quick, if they wanted to avoid a police confrontation. The terrakinetic criminal was definitely powerful, but how powerful, they weren’t entirely sure. Regardless, John motioned to Jade, telling her to go first. Fight fire with fire, right? Or in this case, terra with terra.

Jade straightened herself up and took a deep breath. She relaxed and felt the movement of the earth beneath her and beneath the whole block, including the bank. She moved forward, toward the destroyed entrance and followed the man in, John and company moving in behind her in a triangle formation.

“Hey! Man with the terrakinesis. What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Jade called out, garnering the man’s attention. Without answering her, he sent a controlled earthquake toward the group, hoping to distract them enough to use the floor to get into the safe where all the money was kept. Unfortunately for him, Jade was more than prepared for an attack like that. It was a classic mistake many terrakinetic people made when facing another person with terrakinesis. Jade immediately countered with a relaxing wave to soothe the angry one he’d sent. It stopped the earthquake in its tracks. In that time, John moved into action.

“Rose! Dave! Now!” he called out. The two named summoned their respective elements of water and fire, combining them to create a mist in the immediate vicinity. John then used his aerokinesis to move the mist toward the man, surrounding him and taking away his sense of sight. While most with terrakinesis could ‘see’ through the vibrations in the ground, they weren’t sure about this particular wielder. So, to mess up his ‘sight’, Jade sent a few more shock waves toward him, disorienting him. The man moved this way and that, trying to gain his bearings. Jade picked up on every one of them and always knew where to send the next wave.

When the criminal was sufficiently disoriented, Jade nodded to the others, John giving her a thumbs up in response. Just as they were about to move in in order to rope him up and bring him back to the facility, things took a turn for the worse. Because he couldn’t ‘see’ properly and was beginning to enter panic mode, his earth powers began going out of control. He was sending shock waves this way and that. Not to mention, he was bringing up pieces of the floor and shooting them in every direction. John and company had to duck several large pieces of the floor heading directly at them.

“Jade! Can you subdue him?” asked John, dodging another piece of floor. He could theoretically subdue him himself by controlling the air in the area, but he needed to be closer or him taking the air away would affect his teammates, too. And with how this man was acting, he couldn’t get in close enough. Dave lowered the temperature in the room by sucking all the heat into himself, making him extremely hot to the touch.

“Hopefully this will slow him down some, Jade.” Rose summoned back the water from the mist created earlier. Maybe once he could actually see, the man would calm down some. Unfortunately for them, he didn’t. Instead, once he realized he could see, he could actually target them. A smirk spread over his face as he pulled up four pieces of the floor and shot them directly at all four of them. As they all dodged, the man turned back to the vault and destroyed the door with a highly concentrated shockwave to the structure.

“Dammit! We won’t let you get away with this, Mister!” cried out Jade as she moved in closer. She willed one of the pieces of the floor he’d shot in her direction earlier to move in front of her. She took a deep breath and began punching the air in front of it, shooting out smaller, and therefore faster, pieces of stone toward him. It forced him to move away from the vault, seeing as she had always had extremely accurate and precise aim. With him distracted, Rose and Dave nodded to one another. Rose summoned water in front of her in little droplets. Dave then took the heat from them to create ice balls. Rose then began shooting them at the man as well, adding to Jade’s earth pellets.

Meanwhile, they were all creating the perfect diversion to allow John to move in closer to the man, sneaking around to come up behind him and slowly start sapping the air from the area. The man began huffing more in exertion as the air around him became thinner. Finally, he dropped to a knee, face turning pale and almost blue as the air around him became even thinner, causing him to start suffocating. John kept it at that level until the man passed out, Jade and Rose halting their attacks and dropping their respective ammunition. Dave released the heat while John finally released the air. They all took a deep breath before Rose moved into action, taking out the rope and tying the man up. Meanwhile, Jade did her best to replace all of the stone where it came from in the floor. She couldn’t fully patch it up, but she could at least replace some of it.

The sound of sirens outside the building signalled that their time was up.

“Come on, guys. We can go out the back. Dave, can you overheat the cameras?” John asked, grabbing the man and hoisting him over his shoulder with ease.

“Dude, you are really late to the party on that one. I overheated them the minute we stepped in. I didn’t want our faces being captured. What good would that do? I mean-”

“Dave! Now is really not the time to go on your long rants! We have to move, now!” chided Jade, grabbing the blond’s wrist and dragging him out, Rose walking behind them with a smirk on her face.

“Awww, look at little Davey, being chided by one of his best friends.”

“Rose-”

“Enough, all of you! We have to get back. As much as I’d love to tease Dave, too, we have a cop problem very quickly approaching and need to get out of here pronto!” John butted in, leading them out of the employee entrance. He double checked the area behind the bank quickly before motioning for them to follow him out. Luckily, the police hadn’t made it around back yet, which gave them ample time to make their get-away. They hurried back to H.O.M.E. with their captive and entered. Sage was waiting there along with Rolanda Lalonde, a pale blonde woman who looked exactly like her daughters, as well as a couple other scientists. John dropped the man in front of Rolanda, who instructed her help to pick him up and take him to the lab. She turned back to the others.

“Great job, guys. We’ll get this guy rehabilitated and ready for the real world again, soon! Maybe you’ll even end up working with him!”

“That’s a little hopeful for right now, Rolanda. We have no idea how he’ll take the therapy. He may be a stubborn one,” commented Sage. The woman just brushed him off and hugged her youngest daughter before walking off to the lab, heels clacking on the floor. Sage turned to the young adults in front of him and surveyed them, taking in their damages. Luckily, none of them had actually been hit by any of the thrown floor, so they were all unscathed. Dave was still a little warm to the touch, but otherwise, all were well. The boss nodded to all of them.

“It’s nice to see you unharmed. What about the damage to the premises?”

“Sir, we found him in the Chase bank. He destroyed the front entrance and the structure around the vault door, causing it to unlock. He also tore up the floor, launching pieces of it at us. However, Jade replaced as much as she could so it was at least able to be walked on. Dave overheated the cameras to keep us anonymous. Other than that, everything remained unscathed,” John reported, for once actually being serious. He did smile at the end, however. “We got him with minimal damages, just like you asked. A lot of the damage done was unavoidable as, when we attempted to disable him by taking away his sight, he panicked and launched more at us than we anticipated. However, we did keep it to only the front area by the vault. The rest of the building was untouched.” Sage gave them all a smile and opened his arms.

“Good job. You did as asked and the damages won’t cost us too much. I’m proud of you all,” he said as all of them moved in for the routine ‘congratulations’ hug from their boss. Since he’d taken over, any time he sent out a younger team, Sage would welcome them back after getting a status update with a hug and a declaration of his pride in them. “Now, go shower and get to bed. You can sleep in an extra hour if you like tomorrow as a reward for doing well on this Code 4.” Jade and John whooped while Dave and Rose remained stoic. The latter two would no doubt get up at the normal time regardless, whereas the former would use the extra hour to sleep more.

“Thank you, Sir! Goodnight!” John called as the air in the facility lifted him and carried him off swiftly toward his room. Jade, Rose, and Dave followed at a slower pace, talking amongst themselves about their plans for the next day and what they’d be working on in their respective times to train.

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~Elsewhere~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


“Well, Manny was a complete flop. We should never have sent him out. Now we’re out a pawn and a bunch of money,” complained a lower female voice full of disdain and anger.

“Well maybe it’s time to send out some of the stronger ones then?” a male voice followed suit, almost mocking and bored with the female’s complaints.

“Who do you suggest, then, if you’re so keen on sending out our better members?” she questioned curtly and with a bit of a snarl.

“Why not Muse, Prince, and Witch?”

“You’re not serious.”

“Why would I suggest them if I weren’t? You know those three are some of the strongest we have. They can easily get what we need and start making a name for us.” The woman glared at the man, a moment away from biting his head off when a thought struck her. Maybe he was actually right. They’d been playing it too safe. Maybe it was time for them to begin moving toward their goal.

“You may actually be right on this one. Fine. I’ll listen to you this once. We’ll send out Muse, Prince, and Witch. Go summon them.” The man grinned an evil grin, showing off one golden tooth.

“Of course, Empress.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I will state that, as this is for NaNoWriMo, everything is 100% unedited. *shades drop* Deal with it. But no, seriously. Please don't comment at this point in time about any grammatical errors or anything. I'm not ready to edit this. After December gets started -then- feel free to rip this apart. Thanks for reading!

The next day, John woke up very refreshed, happy he got to sleep in an extra hour. It was still 9 in the morning, but hey. It was better than waking up at 8 AM every day. Sage really liked everyone to be on the same schedule as much as possible, so it was a facility-wide rule. Everyone was up at 8 and in bed by 10 at the latest. Or at least in their rooms making minimal noise.  
  
The young man stretched and scratched his stomach as he yawned widely. Shortly after he awoke, there was a knock at his door.  
  
“Hey, man. You up?” It was Dave. John walked over to the door and unlocked it, signaling to his friend that he could come in.  
  
“Yeah. God that extra hour was nice. What about you? Did you sleep in?” he asked as he moved across the room to his closet, pulling out his stretchy jeans and a blue t-shirt with a windy symbol on it. Dave was dressed in a pair of stretchy black pants and a red t-shirt with a gear on it. He was fascinated with Time and had the most accurate internal clock John had ever seen. It was a pity that Time control wasn’t actually a thing. Dave would totally have it if it were.  
  
“Seriously? You have to ask that? While I enjoy my beauty sleep just as much as anyone else, I woke up at the usual time. You know I like using my extra hours to throw down some sick beats or write another few panels for Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff,” the blond retorted, sitting down on his friend’s bed as said friend took to changing out of his boxers and sleep shirt. John felt more than comfortable enough to change in front of the other. The two had become fast friends ever since Dave was brought in when the two were 10. Dave came with his older brother Dirk, who had electrokinesis. They were discovered in Houston, Texas. It had been the middle of a particularly snowy winter for Texas, and Dave had made an entire parking lot melt just by standing there and wishing it were hotter. Just a couple months prior, Dirk had caused an electricity storm just because he was frustrated by losing against their oldest brother in a sword fight. They’d been on the roof of their apartment complex at the time, so the neighbors saw that the electricity came from Dirk, himself. As a result, the two had been shunned and relentlessly mocked at school and in public. It got bad enough that their oldest brother (who also doubled as their guardian seeing as they’d lost their parents very young) looked up S.B.U.R.B. (he had a surprising number of contacts in the underground) and asked them to take the two somewhere safe, somewhere they wouldn’t have to go through that. He knew he couldn’t follow, seeing as he didn’t have strange powers, but he knew it was for the best. The boys didn’t really care too much, seeing as their brother was more than a little abusive in his method of raising them. I mean, who honestly taught 10-12 year old boys how to fight with katanas?  
  
As John changed, Dave eyed his best friend from behind the shades given to him for his 13th birthday by said friend. The black-haired man had such a nice body: a decent amount of muscle, trim waist, broad shoulders, shapely legs, and not to mention his ass. It was strong, but squishy looking. Dave secretly delighted in taking in his friend’s visage. The blond had been struggling with his sexuality for a while. He found himself attracted to a number of his friends, and he kept telling himself it was due to the close quarters and the lack of outer socialization. But he kept coming back to the same three people. One of them was John. He’d never tell the other, but it was what it was.  
  
“You’re still working on that shitty webcomic of yours? Seriously? How does that even have any views?” John asked, finally dressed and putting on his shoes.  
  
“My comic is comedic gold, man. Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff is totally the next big thing. Plus, I have a shitton of viewers, mind you. It’s like, some sort of occult following. These people recognize true comedy and irony at its most basic sense. And I’m positive none of them are going to look at normal objects like stairs the same way ever again. That’s what I’m going for, John. Letting people know the truth of the world through disturbing comedy that is purely ironic in its presentation.”  
  
“Dave? You totally just rambled and I have no idea what it was you just said, to be honest with you,” John stated, going over to his mirror to tame the black nest that was his hair. It didn’t really work too well, what with a couple cowlicks sticking up, but the man just shrugged and put his glasses on, deeming himself presentable. His stomach rumbled at that moment. “Anyway, I’m hungry. Let’s go get breakfast. I’m sure the girls are there, too.” With that, he strode out of his room, leaving Dave to trail behind him, hands in his pockets.  
  
“What I was trying to get at, John, was that people like the shit I write. I don’t know why, but they do, and it’s the shit. Not to mention, Bro reads it and comments every so often, so I know he’s doing ok. Not that I really care or anything. He was a shit guardian,” Dave continued to ramble. John raised an eyebrow at his friend before a look of comprehension crossed his face.  
  
“You had a dream about Bro again, didn’t you? That’s why you chose to work on Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff, right?” Every time the younger Strider had any sort of dream, nostalgic, nightmare, or some sort of a strange dream, about his former guardian, he would work on the webcomic he started writing because of Bro. It was really his only connection to the outside world since most of them weren’t allowed to go out without good reason. It was to keep them safe, and they understood that, but sometimes it got really boring, really fast.  
  
“...yeah. Like, I don’t miss him, but it’s been weird having Dirk be my only immediate family. Don’t get me wrong, Rose and Roxy are cool, but it is weird. I mean, sure, I’ve been without him for ten years now, but I don’t know.” John gave him a small smile and put his hand on the thin shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.  
  
“You miss him, dude. It’s ok to. I miss my dad a lot. He’s always the one I call when we have our free days. There’s no shame in missing someone.”  
  
“But he was abusive, John. Surely that’s a reason to not miss him.” The two kept walking to the dining room. John floating lazily next to his best friend.  
  
“He’s still family, Dave He raised you most of your life, however shitty job he did. It’s normal to miss him. He was significant. I’m sure Rose will tell you the same thing,” he said, trying to comfort Dave, knowing he was stressed about the revelation despite not showing it.  
  
“Do NOT, for the love of all that is holy, bring up that shit to Rose. She will over evaluate the fuck out of all of that. You know how she gets,” Dave pointed out, appreciating the gesture of comfort from John. The other just laughed as they approached the dining room.  
  
“That’s true. That’s why you talk to me about this stuff, right? Cuz I won’t do that?” He smiled brightly, and Dave couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter at the sight of it.  
  
“Duh. You are literally one of the chillest dudes I’ve ever had the fortune of meeting. Except when you get all defensive about Nic Cage and Matt McConah-whatever-the-fuck-his-name-is. They suck and that’s that,” the blond stated, knowing it would get John’s mind off their previous conversation.  
  
“What?! Dave! Nic Cage is amazing and Matthew McConaughey is one of the best actors ever!” John shouted as they entered the dining room, spotting the girls already seated at the table with a nice spread of breakfast foods in front of them.  
  
“Are you two seriously arguing over that again?” Jade asked, laughing at the boys as they sat down. John reached across her for the bowl of scrambled eggs followed by grabbing for the bacon as he answered.  
  
“Of course! Dave insulted the best actors known to man. How could I not retaliate in such a way?” he asked, grabbing for a couple pieces of toast and buttering them as well. Dave also filled his plate with food, choosing a cereal instead of toast.  
  
“They suck, John. They are worse than Ben Stiller, and that’s saying a lot.”  
  
“Those shades you’re wearing were Ben Stiller’s. You know that, right? You remember the letter of authenticity that came in the package? So how can you seriously say that Ben Stiller sucks, first off and that Nic Cage and Matthew McConaughey are terrible, too? God, your taste in movies is shit, Dave!” John complained after pointing his fork at Dave for emphasis. He turned back to his meal while the blond shrugged.  
  
“You know that movie these shades are from sucked harder than Sweet Bro fell down the stairs in my most recent update. I.E. the update from this morning. It was epic. And ironically funny. But stupid all at the same time. It’s like-”  
  
“Dave! No rants this early in the morning! Please?” whined Jade. While she was bright eyed and bushy tailed from getting an extra hour’s sleep, she did NOT want to deal with the metaphorical shit that was about to spew forth from the mouth of the seated Strider. Rose raised an eyebrow at her cousin and smirked at him being shut down so quickly.  
  
“I don’t know, Jade. Perhaps we could allow him to continue his inevitable tirade and then evaluate and parse exactly what he means by it through the action of bringing up painfully accurate assumptions about his character and his past. Would that make you happy, Dave?” The sarcasm and teasing tone laced her voice elegantly, causing Dave to actually pause in his eating and stare at her through his shade.  
  
“You would absolutely love that, wouldn’t you, Rose? You’ve been dying to psychoanalyze me like some sort of Oedipan or Freudian or whatever subject recently, haven’t you? And you’re pissed that I’m not giving you anything to work with, is that right?”  
  
“Quite the opposite, dear cousin. You’re giving me more than enough to work with. I shall fill up an entire journal detailing this exact conversation and the Freudian connotations of it hereafter we have finished and just before we have training. It is a tedious process, but someone has to do it, right?” She smiled at her cousin before turning back to the last of her meal.  
  
“Aaaaaand you officially lost me with that talk, Rose. You can psychoanalyze him some other time. How did you two sleep?” John butted in before Dave could retort, wanting to see if either of the other two had actually slept in the extra hour like he did and like Dave didn’t.  
  
“I slept as well as any other night, John. Thank you for asking. I was, however, up at the normal time this morning. It was a very nice hour filled with reading from my Grimorie for the Zoologically Dubious.” Rose took a sip of her orange juice, surprisingly not even leaving a trace of her usual black lipstick on the glass. John and Dave could never figure out how she, Kanaya, or Roxy ever managed to do that. It was witchcraft. It had to be.  
  
“I slept in! It was sooooo nice! I feel much more rested, not that last night took a lot out of me. It was more of a mental challenge than a physical one. I wonder how that guy is doing,” Jade answered after Rose, bringing up their mission from the previous night. John shrugged and swallowed his mouthful of food.  
  
“I have no idea. You know we don’t usually see the people we bring in for several weeks after they get here. I have no idea what they do to rehabilitate them, but obviously it works. It just takes a while, I guess.” Jade nodded. She was always interested in the methods of the facility’s inner workings. She was a scientist through and through and wanted to know things she wasn’t allowed to access yet. Rolanda, while deeming her more than smart enough to handle the situations, deemed her too young to deal with them right then. When she was older, Jade would be allowed in the lab with the Lalonde matriarch. Rolanda had promised her several years ago.  
  
“I just hope it’s humane what they’re doing. I get that these are the bad guys, but not all of them are super bad. They’re just misguided.” Green eyes sparkled in her conviction of her belief. Jade truly believed in the good in everyone unless specifically proven otherwise. That didn’t mean, however, that she was a doormat to be walked over. Her and Karkat had quite a few rows when he first came in. His gruff personality and lack of asking for help pissed her off, and she wouldn’t take it. She gave back as good as she got, putting Karkat in his place more than one time over the last few years.  
  
“I’m sure it is, Jade. My mother wouldn’t do anything that lacked morality and humanity. She may be a frigid bitch a good majority of the time, mocking me with her love of wizards and the like, but she has her heart in the right place most of the time. She’s a scientist and will do whatever it takes to get the results she wants… within reason. And she always toes the line, but never will she cross it. You have my word on that.” Rose had to reassure Jade every time that her mother was humane in her methods. It never grew tiring, however. Seeing the relieved look on her friend’s face was more than worth the repetitive explanation. Jade offered her a smile and finished off the last of her milk.  
  
“Alright! I trust you, Rose. I’m going to go feed Bec before heading to the training room. I’ll see all of you there!” With that, Jade rose from the table to head to the back of the facility where her dog resided. He was a beautiful white german shepherd by the name of Bequerel, but she called him Bec for short. When she was brought in, her and Jake absolutely refused to be transported without one of their family dogs. Their grandfather kept Bec’s sister, Halley, while they took the other. Jade made it a point every morning to take him out for a short walk and feed him. She also spent time with him during her free time, too. He reminded her of Jake and her grandpa, and that helped her cope. When Jake had disappeared, that was the only time Bec was allowed around the facility. She had to have him near to her at all times or she’d go into a panic attack.  
  
John, Dave, and Rose waved at her, Rose standing next.  
  
“I’m heading to the training room now to meet up with Kanaya. I believe we are supposed to work with her, Karkat, and Nepeta today. I will meet you in there as well. Enjoy your breakfast, but remember to hurry. We are due in there in five minutes, boys,” she reminded them with a small smile, walking (damn near gliding) out of the room.  
  
“How the hell does she do that?” asked Dave, polishing off his Frosted Flakes and downing his glass of apple juice.  
  
“Do what?” John asked, mouthful of food seeing as he’d helped himself to seconds and trying to down it in time.  
  
“Fucking glide around like that. Like, I get it coming from you because aerokinesis and shit, but you are clumsy as fuck when not flying or floating. She doesn’t have that and can just… walk like she’s not even really walking. How?” Dave questioned once more, leaning back in his chair and waiting for John to finish. The latter only answered once he finally downed the last of his bacon and his glass of orange juice.  
  
“I have no idea. She’s really weird like that. Always has been. Ok! I’m done. Let’s get to the training room. I’m looking forward to today!” John stood and made his way to the door, Dave pushing up and following close behind.  
  
“Why? So we can be emotionally and physically controlled?” The black-haired man laughed and clapped his friend on the shoulder lightly.  
  
“It’s not going to be that bad, Dave. Not to mention, they have to practice somehow, right? How can they really practice without doing it on people? Karkat and Nepeta are really strong, you know,” John stated as they turned the corner, spotting the open door to the training room.  
  
“You know they always make me do weird shit, John. I don’t like it but can’t say anything without blowing my passive facade,” Dave countered, knowing they were going to be a hair late due to his internal clock.  
  
“Oh, screw that. They don’t make you do anything too weird,” said John, chuckling a little as they entered the training room, their instructor glaring at them. “Oh shit… we’re late, aren’t we?”  
  
“I could have told you that, John. But you chose to walk at a leisurely pace, so I left it up to you,” Dave tried to play it off that he was following someone else instead of choosing on his own to walk slowly. Their instructor grunted.  
  
“Whatever, Strider. Get in line, you two. Today, we’ll be working on your teamwork. You six have never been in a big team altogether, right? Share your abilities once more and we’ll figure out how you’d all work together now that you’re much stronger than you were as children,” he instructed, laying out the plans for the day. As far as training went in the facility, most training was done individually. At least once a week, groups of six would be put together and would come up with ways to play off one another’s powers in case they were chosen for a mission. All of them had been working pairs or threes every week, but larger groups were varied due to the lack of need for them.  
  
The instructor, known as Mark, nodded to the girls on the end, indicating them to go first. Rose stepped forward.  
  
“Hydrokinesis,” she stated and summoned the moisture from the air, manipulating it in patterns around herself. Rose then formed droplets of it and used them as miniature bullets, shooting them at the dummies across the room. She made a whip out of the water, using it to slice one of the other dummies. She continued showing off her power for another couple minutes, demonstrating all she could do so the people in the room had an idea of what she was capable of.  
  
“Very good, Lalonde,” stated Mark. He turned to the next in line, Kanaya. She stepped forward and took a deep breath.  
  
“My ability is forcefields. I am solely a defensive member as I cannot use them for anything else that I have been able to accomplish or figure out,” she said before creating a clear forcefield right in front of her. It was clear, but an inch thick. Mark helped her to test it by using a myriad of weapons on it: knives, swords, guns, his own hyrdokinesis, whips, chains, etc. It was impenetrable. It kept its form, however, it did appear to cause Kanaya some strain the longer it was up. There was sweat forming on her brow the more he attacked her forcefield. After a few minutes of demonstration, Kanaya finally let it drop and heaved a breath before returning to her normal, perfect posture. She made her way back to the line, Nepeta stepping forward.  
  
Nepeta Leijon was a small, black girl with natural hair that stuck up every which way and went to her shoulders. Usually, she kept it under a blue hat that resembled a cat’s face, having a deep love for any and all things feline. She had piercing green eyes that could see right through a person despite looking utterly adorable. Nepeta always appeared to be the one that wouldn’t harm a fly or any other living thing, but she was a huntress. She’d been found living alone in the woods near a town in Minnesota. People had been muttering for years about an entity in the local woods that would manipulate hunters into turning away from their prey, said hunters coming back not knowing exactly what happened or why they felt the way they did. Their emotions were screwy for several weeks afterward. Most of them even found themselves having more compassion for the animals that they hunted, turning away from the sport completely. Their families were very confused and concerned with the abrupt change in behavior. As the stories reached the ears of traveling S.B.U.R.B. agents, they decided to check things out, finding Nepeta living in a cave in the side of a cliff. At first, she attempted manipulating their emotions. Unfortunately for her, one of them had the power to deaden emotions, leaving her with nothing to work with. They explained who they were, and the very small girl told them her mother had been killed by her father a few years prior. Nepeta, being only 7 at the time, had no idea of her power and, when confronted by her father threatening to take her own life, she manipulated his emotions into anxiety and fear, such as she was feeling. It overwhelmed him, seeing as she had no control over how much she induced, and he ended up killing himself. Nepeta, terrified of what would happen if she were found by the police, ran from the scene, blood splattering her clothing from the blood exiting her father when he shot himself in the head, She went into the nearby woods. There, she was found by a large female cougar. Even more terrified she’d be eaten, somehow her emotional manipulation could extend ever so slightly to animals. The hungry puma, instead of hunting her, laid next to her, purring in comfort. From that point on, the big cat had been a mother figure to her until hunters killed her several months prior to Nepeta being found. From there, the men reiterated that she had unique powers and that they could help her if she would come with them. The young girl agreed and came to the facility at, what they found out later, 11 years old. Back to the present, Nepeta gave a beaming smile, showing off very sharp canines, sharper than normal, and turned to her companions.  
  
“Emotional manipulation. May I use one of you for demonstration? Mark doesn’t like it when I manipulate his emotions,” she pouted at the very end, giving their instructor big eyes and an adorable little frown. John stepped forward.  
  
“I volunteer! Hee hee. It always feels really weird when you do that to me, but you haven’t in a long time, so here’s your opportunity!” He thrust his chest out, acting like the valiant volunteer, sacrificing himself for the greater good. Nepeta laughed and stood in front of him, staring at him with her intense gaze. He locked eyes with her, smile still present until it dropped. It became a frown in a split second, his brow furrowing in anger. He felt his body get tense as he found himself particularly furious with the tiny girl in front of him. As soon as he moved forward to attack, he stopped. An overwhelming sadness wracked his body as tears sprung in his eyes, cascading down his face. Before he could grieve over nothing too much, once more, his emotions flipped. All of a sudden, he dropped to his knees laughing so hard, he almost couldn’t breathe. Everything was just so funny! His instructor, his best friend, the breakfast he’d had, everything! Just as he was starting to feel a little light-headed from the laughter, he stopped. A frown took his face again as his eyes widened. His pulse raced, and a million scenarios for the way the day would play out filtered through his mind, most of them ending badly. He grew sweaty and panicky as the anxiety started overtaking him.  
  
All the while, Nepeta stood in front of him, smiling widely. Finally, she let him go and returned him to his normal attitude. He took a deep breath while his heart rate returned to normal, not liking feeling that anxious.  
  
“Wow, Nepeta. You’ve gotten a hell of a lot faster at that. I remember when it used to take you a minute or so to really get someone going in the emotion you were forcing on them,” he said, pulse returning to normal as he stepped back into line. She grinned like a cheshire cat.  
  
“I know! I’ve been working purr-etty hard at it during my individual training. I’ve even gotten to the point that those that can deaden emotions, I can actually scratch the surface of manipulating. I’m really close to being able to turn on their emotions full force and control them that way!” she bragged, stepping back into line as everyone looked at the small girl in shock.  
  
“Really?! Goddamn, Nepeta. That’s incredible,” stated Karkat, actually impressed with that amount of control and enforcement. Nepeta blushed at Karkat’s praise. She’d had a crush on the young man since he’d first gotten to the facility. Hearing anything positive about herself from him always did that to her. Mark, however, spoiled the mood by clearing his throat.  
  
“Let’s move on then, shall we? Karkat, you’re next.” With that, the gruff man stepped forward.  
  
“Blood manipulation. Mark? You wanna volunteer?” Karkat asked, rolling his head and shoulders and taking a strong stance. Mark nodded and kept his body tense. Karkat’s eyes glowed red as they hyper-focused on the coursing of the other man’s blood. Picking out the hemoglobin in the cells rushing through the veins, Karkat took control of them. In his vision, the hemoglobin stopped in its tracks before he commanded it to move a certain way. Seeing as it was a component of carrying information through the body, Mark began moving in a way he normally wouldn’t. Karkat held up his hands, twirling a finger around and making the other man spin in a circle. All the while, Mark was trying to fight it but could do nothing more than let his body move against his will. Karkat had the man attack the dummies and do cartwheels and even had him raise his arms in a way akin to how he normally would to summon his water. Having the control over the hemoglobin that he did, Karkat was able to force the man to summon the water from his own body by moving him in the manner that would naturally do so. It was almost as if Mark were a puppet that Karkat was controlling. The marked difference was that the instructor was completely aware of the entire process and could do nothing about it. With a true puppet master, even the brain would be controlled, so the victim would be entirely unaware of the process.  
  
After a few minutes of demonstration, the glow in Karkat’s eyes faded as he relinquished his control of the instructor, allowing him to take his own body back. The man sighed as he could control his own body again and nodded to Karkat, who stepped back into line. Next up was John.  
  
“I have aerokinesis!” he exclaimed, floating already in his excitement to show off his powers.  
  
“We already know, you asshole. You show it off every fucking chance you get. Mark, do we really have to let this asshat demonstrate his powers? Every single one of us already knows what he can do. He brags about it all the time and shows off even more. Especially when he’s learned something new. It gets demonstrated at dinner that night. Can we just skip John and move on to the asshole we all know and love, Dave? Sorry, I meant hate. We all hate him. He is a massive co-”  
  
“We get the point, Karkat, but no. Everyone has to demonstrate. That’s the purpose of today. Even if you may think you know what the others can do, you still need to see it in action today in order to better figure out how to work together. And yes, Karkat, work _together_. That means helping one another get shit accomplished,” Mark chided, turning back to John. “Go on, John.” The blue-eyed man nodded as his perpetual smile actually dropped in concentration.  
  
Wind whipped around the room as he called on it. Everyone’s hair tossed around them, including John’s. His eyes became an even clearer blue than normal as the wind obeyed his every command. He slowed it, sped it up, specifically directed it in certain areas. He showed off his speed with it, darting around the room. Then, he began showing the very beginnings of his attempts to create a cyclone. In order to do it, he had to fly in circles rapidly in order to create the vortex. Eventually, he started blurring with how fast he was going, and the very beginning of a cyclone started forming. However, John had to stop as he couldn’t keep up going that fast for that long and settled back down on the ground, heaving for breath.  
  
“That’s -huff- about the best -huff- that I can do for right now. The wind is a really tricky thing. -huff huff- I can also -huff-” Before he continued, he held up a finger and regulated his breathing quickly so that he could speak normally. “I can also sap the air from any given area, effectively suffocating someone. I chose not to do that here because I’m sure no one would volunteer to be suffocated, am I right?” he laughed. Everyone in the room made various indications that he was indeed right as he stepped back in line. Dave took that moment to move forward. Mark gave him a nod, letting him know that he could do his demonstration.  
  
“Pyrokinesis,” was all he said before literally setting himself on fire. The flames licked his body without doing any damage. He shifted them from one side of his body to the other, targeting certain limbs, giving himself funny fire hairdos, and then directing the flames to a dummy. Everyone watched as it quickly turned to ash, Dave increasing the temperature of the flames to turn them blue. He then extinguished the flames and took to adjusting the temperature in the room. First, he made it excruciatingly hot, then cooled it right down by sapping all the heat and holding it within his own body. From there, he walked over to another dummy and touched it, watching as it burned right in the spot he touched from his body alone. He played around with the temperature more and did a few more flame tricks that everyone had seen millions of times before stepping back into line.  
  
“Very good. Now that everyone knows what everyone else is capable of, let’s begin, shall we? Based on the powers demonstrated, who can work the best together? Be the most effective in conjunction with one another?” their instructor questioned, pacing in front of them. John raised his hand.  
  
“Dave and Rose would work excellently together, as they already have, with a fire-water combination. Since Dave can control heat, that makes Rose able to control ice as well as fire,” he answered, proud of his response.  
  
“Very good, John. However, there are more pairings to include in this. What is another one?” This time, Kanaya answered.  
  
“Karkat and Nepeta would work equally well together with their manipulation of the human body. Together, they could equate to a puppet master with Nepeta controlling the emotions of the person and Karkat controlling their body,” she stated, looking down the line at both of them, giving her cousin a look that told him to try arguing with her. He just glared and crossed his arms. Even though he wanted to argue for arguments’ sake, her explanation was right. Him and Nepeta working together would have one hell of an effect on someone. The two had never had to be on a team together, so this would be one of the extremely rare times they would play off one another’s powers.  
  
“Exactly my thoughts, Kanaya. Well done. You were right when you stated that you were purely a defense at this point in time, so there isn’t one specific person you can work well with here. And John’s powers aren’t entirely versatile enough to work with any other element unless Rose and Dave worked together to create a mist.” Mark stopped in front of the 6 young adults in the room, eyeing each of them. “Now. I will give you several scenarios. You must come up with the best method of overcoming the obstacle I have presented you with. This will take concentration, strategy, and a perfect utilization of resources available to you. First scenario: Hydrokinetic power wielder. He’s harming civilians with his water and appears to be able to form it into a myriad of weapons. What’s your best method of approaching him?” The students all stayed quiet for a moment as they evaluated the situation in their heads. Rose spoke up first.  
  
“Personally, I would go out first to fight water with water in an effort to distract him from his current activities. From there, I would probably have Dave come in with his heat control and do the mist technique that you mentioned prior. John could then manipulate it to a certain area and take away his sight. From there, Karkat and Nepeta could move in to stop him in his tracks and have him willingly follow us. Kanaya would act as back-up in the event that any part of that plan backfired or faltered and protect us all with her force fields,” she explained. Mark considered her words and hmm’d.  
  
“Not bad, but what would you do in the event that he was able to make it out of the mist and attack you all?”  
  
“As stated at the end, that’s where Kanaya comes in with her force fields,” said Rose. “However, after that point, it would depend on what sort of attacks he would make on us. Would he be attacking with the water weapons or would he try a new approach?” she countered.  
  
“Give me what you would do for either,” stated Mark. Rose nodded and considered for a moment before continuing.  
  
“In the case of him using his weapons of water again, I would suggest Kanaya taking the forefront if they are more on the hand-held variety. That way she could keep him occupied long enough for us to surround him, Karkat and Nepeta once more working together to get him to willingly come with us. If he uses the water in a more long distance manner, I would take the forefront and counter his attacks with my own. Dave could help me use ice against the hyrdokinesis while John could use his own long distance attacks with the wind to aid in disabling him. The second part of this could also work for if he uses a different approach,” the blonde explained, completely sure of herself and her strategy. “Regardless, the overall goal we are going for is to distract him long enough for Karkat and Nepeta to move in to control him. We have to hold him off until those two can make their move.”  
  
“Not too bad, Rose. Your analytical mind proves itself time and again. You made sure you had several methods of approaching any given situation in regards to that specific user and utilized everyone in a manner they could be useful in. I commend you on your plan. Saving Karkat and Nepeta as the key players was a smart thing to do seeing as they can’t necessarily do attacks or defend themselves with their powers.” Rose nodded to the instructor who put his arms behind his back. “Now, let’s see how you fare in that exact situation, shall we?” Mark grinned and summoned water, forming it into a sword and attacked. The group was forced to split up in order to avoid any injured. They leapt into action and began the practical application of the plan put forth by Rose.  
  
The training session continued in much the same manner until lunchtime hit around 12:30. The group finished their last practical run, heaving and sweating in exertion.  
  
“Very good, all. Lunchtime. You’ve all done exceptionally well today. Take an hour and a half break for lunch and to recuperate. Once 2:00 hits, make sure you are ready for your individual sessions. Dismissed,” Mark stated, walking out of the training room toward the dining room. The young adults all heaved a sigh of relief at the break they were allowed before following suit.  
  
“Goooood. That session was rough. Man, I never realized just how many of our plans could backfire,” John complained, rubbing some of the bruises and small cuts he’d gotten from Mark’s water attacks.  
  
“John, keep in mind that a majority of the plans that backfired were yours and Karkat’s. You have no one to blame but yourself for even thinking you could use air against fire in the manner that you did. That was a completely asinine idea,” Rose said as they walked into the dining room, greeted by the delicious smell of lunch and the sounds of chatter.  
  
“Hey, most of my ideas actually fucking worked, thank you very fucking much. John’s the idiot of the group. How the hell- no. WHY the hell is he the quasi-leader of any team sent out?” Karkat bit as he sat down and started filling his plate. The table was full of other adults, most of them older than the six that had just walked in. All the young adults had different training schedules throughout the day, so they didn’t always manage to make it to lunch together.  
  
“Be-claws, Karkitty. In a pinch, John can really save the day with his ideas. It’s when he has time to really think about them that he o-furr-thinks them,” said Nepeta, feline puns lacing her words. It was a habit she’d taken up when trying to make friends. At first, she’d been entirely unapproachable, but John weaseled his way in and got her to open up more by introducing her to cat-related puns. She used them to, at first, make herself appear more approachable and to make friends. Then, after a time using them, grew to absolutely adore them and adopted using them all the time.  
  
“Sure. Whatever,” Karkat scoffed, digging into his food and proceeding to ignore them all.  
  
“I will agree with you on that one, Nep. John can make some kick-ass plans on the fly when he needs to. Last night was all him, wasn’t it, Rose?” Dave asked, looking at his cousin.  
  
“He did come up with the plan quite quickly and was able to adjust it as needed based on how the user reacted to his initial ideas. And to be completely honest with you, John, in training just now, you did have some pretty sweet saves when any of our plans backfired,” Rose said, a small smile gracing her lips. Kanaya sipped at her vegetable juice and nodded her head.  
  
“I find that I must agree with Rose. You are extremely gifted with your quick thinking in the face of a crisis, no matter how controlled or not it is,” she added once Rose had finished. John blushed a light red.  
  
“Awwww shucks, guys! Thanks. But I’m not as good at coming up with initial plans as all of you are.” Before anyone could continue on with their conversation a loud exclamation of ‘WHAT?!’ came from the middle of the table. All six looked over to see one of the adults (an electricity manipulator) with his jaw dropped in disbelief.  
  
“All four of them came back in critical condition? What the hell! This is the third team already today. And the first team had fatalities,” he stated, a worried expression taking his face. The young adults looked at each other in confusion and concern and kept listening.  
  
“Yeah. Whatever users are out there, they’re strong as hell. I’ve heard the next team to be sent out is progressing into Code 2 territory. It’s bad, Damen. The users out there are doing a lot of damage not only to the city, but to the civilians as well as our users. The first team sent out… only one of them lived. Terry and Jillian? Both are dead, Damen,” a woman with jet black hair said, shaking her head.  
  
“Both of them…?” Damen was in disbelief. Terry and Jillian had been two of the best adult users in the facility. Even John and company knew that. And they were dead? What the hell kind of users were out there?  
  
“Yeah, both of them. And every other user that’s come back from the other two teams has been majorly injured.” The adults started muttering amongst themselves about the situation, wondering what the hell was going on and who’d be sent out next.  
  
At that moment, Sage walked into the room, a grim look on his hardened face.  
  
“John, Dave, Rose, Karkat, and Kanaya. Come with me. You’re all needed for a mission.”


	3. Chapter Three

The five followed Sage into the debriefing room where they were met with pictures of injured users. The results were gruesome and utterly terrifying. It was honestly a good thing they hadn’t eaten a lot yet before they were called to the room. Also inside was Dirk, Dave’s older brother.

 

“As you can see, we’re dealing with a bad set of users. We’ve never had to deal with three of them this strong. I’m not even sure they’ve shown their true strength yet, to be completely honest with you,” Sage began, face hard with his effort to not show a lot of emotion. He had to be impassive at this point. He was the facility’s leader and thought of all the users and workers under his command as his family. Seeing any one of them hurt or even killed, destroyed him inside. He took a deep breath and continued on.

 

“It appears, based on what the users who’ve returned with enough wits about them to recount their experiences, that one of them has plasmakinesis, an exceptionally rare ability. It’s very hard to control as plasma usually has a complete and utter mind of its own, but he appears to be able to control it through a wand-like object. 

 

The one girl, the black haired one, appears to have life-revival or theft abilities. That’s how Terry and Jillian were killed according to Tate. They got too close to her and with a mere touch, they were downed. Tate was hit with some of the plasma as well. He said that the third member didn't really do anything at the time that he was there. However, the second team I sent out, stated that the third member is a siren-like user. She could lure the team in with the sound of her voice. They were hit with the plasma without really even feeling it or knowing what had happened as they were too enchanted with her to care about their surroundings. Luckily, she ceased her singing and let go of her control before the other girl had a chance to touch them. They made their escape while they could. All of them were severely injured from the plasma, though.” The broad man walked around the room, showing off some of the pictures. Burns and severe lacerations were shown. The were completely clean cuts, too. Plasma was super hot and when it cut them, it cauterized the wounds. However, there were several that went right down to the bone and even through it in a couple cases.

 

Not a single young adult in the room made a sound as Sage continued on.

 

“Now, I sent a third team of adults out. Four of them as well. Some of my strongest, but even they weren’t able to even make a dent in these three. The civilian casualty rate is skyrocketing as is the overall destruction of the middle of the city. I have chosen you six for a reason.” He completely faced them as he began explaining the mission.

 

“Dirk, your electrokinesis paired with Dave’s pyrokinesis can counter the plasmakinesis. At least, it should. We don’t really have anything to completely counter the other two’s respective abilities at this point in time, but Kanaya’s our best defense. Her force fields are the strongest I’ve ever seen, including from the adults.” Kanaya nodded her thanks at the praise while Sage moved on. “John’s ability to think quickly in a pinch could be extremely useful in this case seeing as these three are heavily unpredictable and inconsistent with their methods of doing things. What I’m hoping will be able to be accomplish is this: Blind the three with a mist. Take out the Siren before she has a chance to sing. If she looks like she’s going to, Kanaya, direct individual force fields around everyone. They should be able to block out the sound, yes?” Kanaya hesitated before answering.

 

“Unfortunately, I’m unsure about that, Sir. I’ve not yet had the chance to really test that seeing as we do not have a Siren among our ranks. I will, however, do as asked in hopes that it will work,” she stated, completely convicted of the potential for success. Sage nodded to her and returned to looking at everyone else.

 

“As I was saying, take out the Siren first. Then focus on the other two. The Life user doesn’t appear to be able to do anything unless she’s close enough to touch the person, but be on your guard. We can’t risk too much here. Karkat, Rose, this is where you can come in along with some of John’s wind abilities. You can all do long distance things. Karkat, take control of her body and keep her in place while Rose and John attack with intent to knock out cold.

 

In regards to the plasma manipulator, Dirk, Dave. As soon as the Siren’s out, focus on him. Let the others handle the Life user. I want you two to counter as many of his attacks as you can. Try not to let the others get hit. Once the Life user is taken down, everyone focus on the plasma manipulator. He’s going to take the most work from what it looks like.” All six of the young adults nodded their acknowledgment of the parameters of the mission. It would be difficult, but they wouldn’t let Sage down.

 

“I’m sending you young adults out in hopes that, because you’re younger, you’ll be able to act much more quickly than my other teams. You’re also in your prime and have more strength with your powers than they do anymore. You can pack a punch while still being accurate and in full control of your abilities, which is exactly what I need right now based on what my other teams have said. With that being said, get your weapons around and get out there. Dismissed.” At that, the six users stood and moved to the weapons area to gather their respective weapons. This time, John actually did grab his warhammer, and no one said anything about it. All wore grave expressions full of seriousness and contemplation about the current situation. They were all preparing their minds for the worst thing that could come from this encounter, while still hoping for the best.

 

Once they’d all silently gathered their weapons, they reconvened at the door to the debriefing room and looked at one another.

 

“You’re all amazing users. You know that right? Let’s get out there and kick some ass,” encouraged John, trying to get everyone’s mood up just a little before they went out there to their potential deaths. Kanaya offered him a small smile while the rest retained their passive (or in Karkat’s case, angry) faces. John took a deep breath and turned to the door, opening it and leading the group outside. They quickly made their way to the center of Philadelphia where sirens rang out and a mass amount of damage could be seen from blocks away. As per their training, the six stuck to the shadows as much as they possibly could, but seeing as it was midday, the sun was high in the sky and eliminated a lot of their cover. 

 

Once they’d reached the center, they were met with an overwhelming amount of carnage. Dead and injured bodies littered the entire block. Crying and moans and screams of pain and suffering could be heard clearly from wherever one stood. And there, in the middle of it all, was a trio of young adults.

 

One of the females had almost platinum blonde hair that was curled. She surveyed the scene as if looking for survivors or those worth singing for. Her green eyes swept the block, glancing right over the group in the alley.

 

The next was a tall male with a decent bit of muscle on him. He wore glasses and a snarl of boredom and disgust. He had brown hair with a blond streak in it and slouched as he waited as his companions did their searches for more targets. He obviously looked bored.

 

The third was a tall, darker female with a good deal of meat on her bones. She stood there looking for either survivors or anyone else she could mess around with, long, curly, black hair drifting in the breeze.

 

Those were the three users that had been giving S.B.U.R.B. members a run for their money. They didn’t look particularly threatening to the team sent out, but they knew better than to underestimate an enemy. While the three may look like they wouldn’t do much harm, obviously they could do a lot. John and company glanced at one another as they all thought about how Sage wanted them to handle the situation. The one with aerokinesis nodded to Rose and Dave, the two starting everything by making a mist. John then directed to mist over to the three users. All three glanced around in surprise before the covering reached them, effectively taking away their sight further than their immediate vicinity. Once the covering was in place, the group moved as silently as possible into the mist, each having their own method of sensing where the others were.

 

As they all grew closer to the three users, a mezzo-soprano voice rang out into the area. No words were attached, only tones and notes were sung. The six stopped in their tracks, immediately captivated by the sound resonating through their very being. As such, the mist began to fade, not being upheld by Rose and Dave. The outlines of the three users began becoming clearer as the covering dispersed. Kanaya, at the beginning of the singing, at tried to make individual force fields to eclipse and mute the Siren’s song, but they weren’t powerful or thick enough. She couldn’t even protect herself and was quickly lulled into submission.

 

The Siren, known as Muse to her companions, took the forefront of her group with her voice, eyes skimming her opponents. All of them had vacant looks on their faces as their bodies swayed with her song. She nodded to Prince, who finally grinned and raised his wand. White hot energy gathered around his hand and concentrated itself into the plastic, ready to be released once he’d felt he’d gained enough of it. With a smirk on his face, he aimed the weapon at the nearest body to him and prepared to release the plasma. As he did so, a blonde head darted in from the side and knocked the body to the ground.

 

“Dirk, are you alright?” asked Rose, smacking her cousin lightly on the cheek a few times to snap him out of his daze. Dirk looked very similar to his brother with pale skin and blond hair that he wore spiked up in an anime-esque styling. He also wore triangle shaped shades to hide his abnormally orange-tinted hazel eyes from the world. The man made eye contact with Rose as his brow furrowed.

 

“Rose? How did you break free from the song?” he questioned, already beginning to hear the song again and feel the fog of enchantment enter his mind. Rose smacked his face again lightly to draw his attention back.

 

“I’m not entirely sure, honestly. I’d been fighting it the whole time, however. It didn’t seem to affect me nearly as much as it did all of you. Anyway, we have to snap the others out of it and continue on. Come on. I need your help,” she answered, eyes showing just a small margin of the worry that laced her mind as she moved away from her cousin to the next nearest person, Karkat. Dirk pushed off the ground and shook his head again, choosing to hyper-focus on the situation at hand and do his best to push the song from his mind. It was difficult, but he managed to make it to his brother and snap the younger Strider out of the hold. Before he could say much, Dave’s eyes widened behind his shades, and he pulled Dirk to the side to narrowly avoid another plasma blast. The danger the group was in completely cleared Dave’s head of the song as he turned to Dirk.

 

“You ok?”

 

“Yeah. Let’s go. We have to stall this guy,” he said, turning to face Prince who was aiming now at Kanaya. Just as he released another energy blast, Dirk and Dave combined their heat and electricity to intercept the plasma, causing a mini explosion mid-path. Prince whirled around to face them, snarl present on his face.

 

“Think you’re real cute with that, don’t ya?” he asked, a strange accent lacing his voice. The Striders couldn’t quite place the origin, but that didn’t matter at that point in time anyway. In response to his question, the two brothers charged themselves with their abilities, ready to strike again.

 

Meanwhile, with Prince distracted for the time being, Rose snapped Karkat out of his trance.

 

“What the hell? Lalonde?”

 

“Questions right now would be frowned upon as we have quite a number of things to accomplish in a short amount of time. Help me grab John and Kanaya so that we may continue the mission,” Rose stated, leaving no room for Karkat to question her break of the song-spell. She moved swiftly over to John to repeat the process, leaving Karkat to approach his cousin. He grabbed Kanaya by the shoulders and shook her, her jade eyes clearing and meeting his own.

 

“Karkat? Oh. The force fields didn’t work, did they?” she questioned, quickly realizing what must have happened and picking up her vigilant monitoring of the situation. She took in the Striders taking on the plasma manipulator. The Siren was still singing with the fog encroaching on her mind. However, she fought it off much harder than before and was able to remain alert and in full control of herself. She looked over to Rose and saw John snap out of his trance as well and survey the scene before him as Rose mouthed words to him that Kanaya couldn’t hear.

 

“No, apparently they didn’t. Rose I think was the first one to snap out of it, but she wouldn’t tell me how. You’ll have to ask her later. Now, how should we take down the Siren?” Karkat’s eyes started to glow red as he locked on the hemoglobin in Muse’s blood. Rose and John moved over to Kanaya and Karkat.

 

“Yeah, Karkat. Can you use your blood manipulation to get her to stop singing? We could all use the break from that.” Red eyes stayed locked on target.

 

“I’ll give it a shot,” was all that was said as Karkat took control of the hemoglobin. The action was so sudden, it startled Muse, who promptly stopped singing to glance down at her body. Realizing she couldn’t move on her own, the girl quickly tried to resume her song, but Karkat beat her to the punch. Using his control over the hemoglobin, he ceased the vocal cord vibrations as she tried to push wind past them to continue singing. Her green eyes widened marginally as she figured out he’d neutralized her power for the time being.

 

John gave him a soft pat on the shoulder, so as to not disturb him too much.

 

“Great job. I’ll knock her out. Rose, figure out how to take care of the other… wait. Where’s the other girl?” John asked, realizing that in the brief time they’d been focused on the Siren, she’d disappeared.

 

“Oar you looking for me?” a higher voice sounded from behind the four. All of them swiftly moved away from one another, Karkat’s concentration breaking for a split second to avoid the chubby girl’s touch. There was a smile present on her face as she straightened from her extension that she’d gone into in an attempt to touch one of the and sap the life right out. “You’ll never win. You know that, right? We’re too strong for you guppies,” she said, advancing on Rose who was the closest to her at that point. Karkat took that opportunity to regain his control over Muse, who’d begun to sing again. John looked to Rose and got a minute nod from her, indicating that she and Kanaya had everything under control.

 

So he moved in closer to the Siren, getting close enough to her to start taking away the air in the area. As he did so, he gestured to Karkat to relinquish his control, little by little. It would be ok. After all, the vocal cords needed air to vibrate well, and one couldn’t very well sing if they couldn’t even breathe, could they? Within a few moments, the Siren’s eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fainted from suffocation. John let out his own breath that he’d been holding without even realizing it, looking over at Karkat. Red eyes dimmed some with a nod of acknowledgement for a job well done before sliding over to his cousin and Rose, both fleeing from the life manipulator who was surprisingly quick. John looked at them and then over to the Striders who were still locked in combat with the plasma manipulator. Neither seemed to be getting a true upper hand, and it appeared that the plasma manipulator was actually beginning to tire from his exertion.

 

“Karkat. Control the life manipulator. Get Rose to fill her lungs with water to suffocate her to the point of passing out. I’ll be over as soon as I help Dirk and Dave take down the plasma manipulator. Move out!” he directed. As soon as the words left his mouth, both John and Karkat moved into action. Karkat ran over to the girls, eyes glowing bright red as he grabbed a hold of Witch’s hemoglobin, stopping her in her tracks. 

 

“Rose! Fill her lungs with water until she passes out. Hurry! John’s orders,” Karkat stated best he could while maintaining control over the enemy while she tried fighting against it. Rose took that opportunity to do as instructed and willed Witch’s lungs to slowly fill with water, causing the girl to start coughing and sputtering as she began losing her ability to breathe. Her vision swam as she could feel her lungs struggling to intake oxygen and pump it through to her blood. As her blood slowed, Karkat’s hold began waning. Finally, Rose had the girl’s lungs completely filled as she finally passed out. When she hit the ground, Karkat’s control fully dissolved, and Rose dispersed the water. 

 

“Good job, Karkat. Thank you for finally giving me an opportunity. Is the Siren down? I’m assuming so,” Rose stated as she glanced around, spotting that the siren had indeed been felled. Kanaya spoke up before Karkat could.

 

“As you have no use for me right now, I’m going over to help the boys. Tie these two up and meet me over there,” she said, darting over to Dirk, Dave, and John who were all struggling to keep up with the plasma manipulator. John was trying to move in closer in order to knock him out, but he’d shoot a blast at him, forcing him back every time. He was exceptionally vigilant and fast once he’d gotten his initial charge. Dave and Dirk were able to counter about 75% of his blasts. Others, they had to dodge and reconvene to hold him off from going over to any of the others. That just pissed him off even more, especially as his eyes darted over to the newcomer. A small look of confusion graced his face as he moved his head ever so slightly to take in the vision of his companions being knocked out and tied up.

 

“How dare you… HOW FUCKIN’ DARE YOU!” he screeched, his power seemingly increasing twofold in his anger with what he saw. John’s eyes widened as Prince shot a particularly nasty blast toward him with even more speed than usual. Kanaya barely had time to throw up a thick force field to block the attack from hitting John as the Striders needed just a little more time to charge their own attack. John took a deep breath as the shield defended him, but at the price of winding Kanaya. She dropped to one knee from the force it took to keep it from dissolving in the blast. Dirk and Dave took that moment to shoot off their own white hot electric blast toward Prince.

 

He countered it with another blast as Rose and Karkat ran up. Immediately, from one look at John, struggling to find an opening, Karkat’s eyes glowed bright red once more as he took control of the plasma manipulator. Finally, the constant attacks stopped, giving the Striders enough time to charge themselves up with one final blast to destroy the wand and take away his method of concentrating his attacks. John and Rose met glanced before taking the opportunity to get in close enough to down the last user. John thinned the air around him while Rose filled his lungs with water, effectively causing him to pass out much faster than the other two. He dropped not too long after, broken wand falling out of his hand in pieces on the ground.

 

It was over. Finally. All six were sweating and nearly light-headed from the over exertion of their powers, but they did it. All were alive and unscathed. They’d all managed to avoid serious injury as they dodged and attacked. They weren’t entirely sure how, but they owed it to their instructors for teaching them well. After a brief moment of calm, Rose quickly tied up the plasma manipulator. From there, John grabbed him, tossing him over his shoulder and directing the wind to carry the other two.

 

“Great work, you guys. Let’s go home.” The other five nodded and followed John as he led the way back to their headquarters, captives in tow. They left the carnage behind them, knowing they could do nothing for those that were injured or dead. It wasn’t their job, anyway, as much as it pained them to still hear the moans of pain and suffering as they made their retreat.

 

Normally, words would have been exchanged on the way back, but the group was too shaken and tired to really be able to talk about anything at the moment. When they finally reached their headquarters, John was close to passing out from his overexertion. Moving quickly was one thing, but the amount of concentration he’d needed in order to knock the two out that he did as well as carrying them with the wind for nearly an hour was beginning to weigh on him. The others seemed to notice, luckily, with Dirk and Dave stepping in to grab the bodies of the girls to carry back inside for John. They would have taken them before, but figured having them glide along at the same pace as everyone instead of slowing the Striders down was the better option. Getting home as quickly as possible was the most important thing. 

 

When John realized he didn’t need to support two people with the wind anymore, he gave the brothers a grateful look as sweat dripped down his brow. He turned back to the entrance and put in the security code to enter. In the entranceway, Sage was waiting with his scientists and medical personnel as he had been the night before. His brown eyes widened in disbelief, taking in the sight of the six team members uninjured in front of him, holding the three users who’d been wreaking havoc. He heaved a huge sigh of relief and gestured to the scientists to take the three captives and the medical personnel to give the young adults a quick, surface look over. The six stood still for the professionals as they were poked and prodded, checked for injuries, internal bleeding, bruises, etc. When the personnel were content that nothing was immediately physically wrong with them, they stepped back and allowed Sage to move forward, directing all of them back into the debriefing room. Normally, he would have asked for the status report at the door, but seeing the exhaustion lacing their faces was enough to move them where they could sit down. All six of them collapsed (albeit, four more gracefully than the other two) into chairs, John having to blink furiously to clear the black that tinged the outskirts of his vision. He needed to stay awake long enough to tell Sage what happened.

 

“Well? What happened out there? How did you all make it back unscathed?” Right to the nitty-gritty. It was just like their boss to cut to the chase and not beat around the bush with unnecessary questions.

 

“We won, Sir,” was all John could muster for the time being. Even talking winded him a little. Rose, however, took over.

 

“We began as you said, with Dave and I creating a mist…” she began, reiterating the entirety, on her part, of the battle. Sage listened patiently, not asking questions as the situation was told to him, Dirk and Karkat piping in when they were needed seeing as they’d al split into pairs at one time. When the tale was finished, their boss nodded and looked directly at Rose.

 

“How were you able to dispel her song?”

 

“I honestly don’t know, Sir. I know that it didn’t cloud my mind as fully as everyone else’s. Logically, I knew there was no reason for me to fall victim to a simple song. I suppose that much be where that came from. I remember looking to my side and seeing a bright light heading for Dirk. I snapped out of it when I realized he wasn’t moving. That’s all I really know, Sir,” Rose explained to the best of her ability. “I will, however, allow myself to be subject to any number of tests with my mother and the Siren when we can trust her more in order to study the reasonings behind this phenomena, if you like.” Sage waved his hand in a dismissive manner.

 

“Don’t worry about it, Rose. We’ll cross that bridge when we can. So none of you were injured? How did you pull that off?”

 

“Our training, Sir,” answered Dirk. “Sure some of us are fast, but mostly we had good defensive training that stuck with us. That’s how we were able to move out of the way in a way to not receive any injuries and to move back together as quickly as possible.” Sage nodded and smiled at them all, tears forming in his eyes but not spilling over.

 

“I’m so happy none of you are hurt, and I am immensely proud of you for managing to accomplish this,” he said, moving around the table to give each of them a hug, seeing as they were too tired to really move. “You all have the rest of the day off along with the next couple to recuperate and regain your strength. If you can, please make sure you eat at least a little something before sleeping you exhaustion off. Your bodies probably desperately need food, seeing as I interrupted lunch for most of you.” They all nodded and forced themselves to stand. Before anyone could take a step, John fell over in a dead faint, his exhaustion winning as soon as he stood up. A chorus of cries of his name echoed in the room as Dave flash-stepped over to him to catch him before he hit the ground.

 

“John? Dude? You ok? Wake up, man,” Dave tried in an effort to wake his best friend. Sage came up beside him and took John from him. He lightly smacked his face and checked the young man’s pulse. He sighed slightly in relief.

 

“He just passed out, probably from overexertion. I’ll take him to his room. The rest of you head to the dining room. Dinner is about to start, and, again, I want you all to eat something before you go to your rooms.” With that, the man picked up the wind manipulator and carried him off to his room to put him to bed, making a note to have staff on standby for when he woke up to get him food and drink.

 

The other five watched as their boss walked off with the sixth member of their team before turning to one another.

 

“He’ll be fine, Dave,” reassured Rose just as Dirk put his hand on his little brother’s shoulder. Kanaya offered him a small smile as Karkat opened his mouth.

 

“Yeah. That asshole like, literally can’t die. He’s too stubborn. He’ll be up and about in no time, pranking everyone again and overall being a douchefuck, probably as early as tomorrow morning. Now quit your worrying and move it. I’m fucking hungry enough to eat an entire cow by myself.” Dave shook his head and straightened himself up as the others made their way to the dining room.

 

When they got there, the rest of their group was already seated and had begun eating. The battle had taken a lot longer than they had expected. How long had they even been struggling against those three? Regardless, they all took their seats as everyone converged on them, asking a million questions and freaking out over the lack of John’s presence. The five present all ignored the questions for the moment, choosing to fill their plates and begin eating before tackling everything. Things would be ok… for now, at least.

 

~~~~~~~~~~Elsewhere~~~~~~~~~~

 

The sounds of crashing and things breaking sounded throughout the place as well as screams of frustration and heartbreak. A man with pitch black hair and red eyes could be seen standing outside the door all the chaos was going on behind. He debated whether or not to go in, seeing as the reason why the woman inside was angry was, in part, due to him. Ultimately, against his better judgment, he decided to enter the room only to have an antique glass car battery thrown at his head. He barely managed to duck in time. However, the few seconds it took to ensure his head wasn’t hurt gave more than enough time for the woman with thick, curly black hair to be standing right in front of him.

 

“You. This is all your fault. How the HELL could I have listened to you and your asinine suggestion? Hmmm?” she questioned, obciously barely restraining herself from hitting him. “Well, because of you, she’s gone. My DAUGHTER is gone. What do you have to say for yourself, Caliborn?” The fact that the woman used his given name showed just how furious she was with him.

 

“You see, Empress, I merely suggested things. Your daughter got taken on her own. I had no part in handing her over to the enemy.” Caliborn desperately tried to plead with her that the circumstances were not his doing. However, his phrasing had never been his strong suit, especially when faced with an angry woman. ‘Hell hath no fury’ and whatnot.

 

“But you suggested that I send her out. And now she’s gone, taken by that awful organization that wants to keep itself hidden. They want to hide who we are and what we can do. And now, my ONLY DAUGHTER is there. Not here. THERE. And it was YOU who suggested I send HER out. And I listened! How idiotic must I have been?!” With that, the woman collapsed on the chair near the corner of the room, covering her face with a hand and shielding her eyes from her company. The chair, surprisingly, was the only thing not upturned or damaged in any way. Though, Caliborn wasn’t sure how much longer that would be for.

 

“I just figured she’d be strong enough. Apparently-” The man was abruptly cut off by a very low and curt voice.

 

“Do not even THINK of finishing that sentence, Caliborn. Not unless you want your head to literally be ripped off your body by Gamzee or Equius.” Caliborn’s jaw snapped shut against his will. The aforementioned men had always given Caliborn the willies. Gamzee was fine up until a point, but Equius… He shuddered thinking about the latter. The Empress heaved a sigh and uncovered her face. “Not to mention, we’ve also lost our rare plasma manipulator as well as our sound manipulator.” She paused momentarily, meeting eyes with him. “Why aren’t you upset by the capture of your sister, by the way?”

 

“Because I never liked her anyway. She was just valuable to your cause, so I brought her in when I searched for you,” he explained, shrugging his shoulders. His sister honestly meant nothing to him and was a burden anyway. She did, however, have a valuable power. He wasn’t lying about that.

 

“Right. Anyway, we’ve lost three of our best users today and this is all because of your completely stupid, ignorant, and not to mention arrogant suggestion that we get started this early instead of waiting for the right time.” Caliborn recoiled in offense.

 

“Hold on just a damn minute! You were the one who decided to listen to me! You know that all I did was give an opinion. You’ve always been the one to see the right time to do things rather than me. I can’t even get up on time or sense the mood of the conversation. What the hell actually made you think it was a smart idea listening to me? Don’t you try to pin this on me, Candace!” Caliborn shouted, trying to defend himself against the ‘leader’ of the organization. The sound of her given name rather than her code name caused the woman’s eyes to narrow. She stood, pulling herself up to her full height of 6’4” and towered over Caliborn. The man, however, was stupid and stood up straighter, too, as if challenging her.

 

“I will pin this on you if I so desire, Caliborn. What the hell can you do to stop me? Hm? Shall I demonstrate my power for you again, on you, so that you may fully understand that I am in charge, and if I say something is someone’s fault, my word goes?” Her voice took on a mocking tone by the end of her small speech, causing goosebumps to go down Caliborn’s back.

 

“There’s no need for threats, Empress. We simply need to find a way to get them back and make that damned organization pay. May I suggest-”

 

“NO. You may NOT suggest anything. I am THROUGH listening to you. Leave my sight before I MAKE you leave,” she threatened. Before either could move, there was a knock at the door with a mid-tone, whiny voice coming through.

 

“Oh my goooood. Can you two just fuck or something and get on with it? You’re making too much of a ruckus and SOME of us are trying to get their beauty sleep. I need to be well-rested, after all.” Candace gave Caliborn one last snarling look, pushing past him to throw open the door.

 

“What the hell do you want, Vriska?” A shorter woman with long, messy blonde hair and glasses gave the taller woman a disinterested stare. 

 

“I just said that you two needed to-”

 

“Yes, I got that. Was there anything else?” Candace’s patience always ran thin with Melissa’s girl, but she’d proved herself too useful to just kill. So Candace dealt with her.

 

“Yeah. When’s Eridan getting back? He promised we’d spar today and I want any excuse I can get to kick that faggot’s ass,” she answered, smirk on her face.

 

“Too bad for you, Vriska. He’s been taken by that damnable organization that’s been taking down some of our other members.” A blonde eyebrow raised in interest. 

 

“Really, now? That’s iiiiinteresting. So he’s going to need someone to SAVE his ass this time. I volunteer. AND I know someone else who’s be DYING to get him back for being a douchebag that can come with me.” Vriska looked at Candace with a face that screamed that she was plotting something evil. Candace looked her up and down, considering. “I mean, you don’t haaaaaave to send me, but you know that with my luck, something will go better than anticipated.”

 

“Fine. You can go. However, you’ll be taking three others. One of your choice and two of mine. The two of mine will be Maid and Page. After all, I did steal them away from that organization YEARS ago. Why not use them?” The two shared a conniving look.

 

“Works for me. You know, as long as I’m in charge. And my choice is Mage. He’s been pissed off at Eri for even existing for a long time, so this should be fun.” Vriska flipped some of her blonde hair over her shoulder. Candace nodded to her.

 

“Gather your team and train for a little before heading out there. The teams that organization sends out actually know how to work together. That’s probably how those three got captured.”

 

“Blah blah training. Blah blah teamwork. Got it. Whatever. Can I go now?”

 

“Get out of my sight.” Vriska held up a hand and turned on her heel to stalk off and gather her team members.

 

“Have fun pegging Caliborn!” she called over her shoulder. A vase was thrown at her head, but it missed by several inches. Vriska didn’t even flinch. Candace grumbled in disdain.

 

“God, she’s just as bad as her mother was…” When the woman turned around, she was met with the sight of Caliborn standing in front of her still. “What the hell are you still doing here? I told you to get out.”

 

“Aww… but aren’t you going to peg me, Empress?” he asked, mocking. The woman’s eyes narrowed harshly as her face took on a snarl. Caliborn’s eyes widened as he scurried around her, trying to avoid her wrath. She took a swing at him as he passed by, catching him in the middle of the back and propelling him out of the room. She slammed the door and proceeded breaking things in the room to finish taking out her anger and aggression.

 

Caliborn rubbed at the spot on his back, pretty sure it would heavily bruise the next (damn woman was stronger than she looked) and carried on his normal day.

 

Meanwhile, Vriska grinned as she walked into the common area, spotting the three people she needed most. Going over to a blond with headphones on at a computer, she ripped the headpiece off and spun him around, disturbing his typing.

 

“Hey Solfucks. I need you for something,” she said before he could even open his mouth to complain.

 

“First of all, VS, what the fuck do you think you’re doing? You can’t just take me away from my coding like that. I was right in the middle of something important. Second, my name is SOLLUX. Not ‘Solfucks’ or whatever the shit you just said,” he started, prominent lisp lacing every word with an ‘s’ sound. 

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. Who cares. You do this all the time. I’m sure it’ll be there when we get back.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at the seated man.

 

“Get back from where, bitch?” he asked, glaring at Vriska with all the hatred in the world.

 

“Get back from our mission, of course. You’re coming with me and two others.” She purposely left the mission out of her statement.

 

“I’m not going anywhere with you until you tell me what the mission is,” Sollux said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. Vriska rolled her eyes and raised an eyebrow at him.

 

“You seriously need to ask? It’s like, the best mission ever. And I’M the leader. You just need to come with me. I don’t make the rules.” She shrugged with a haughty look on her face while Sollux didn’t move.

 

“What. Is. The. Mission?”

 

“Ugh, FINE! I’ll tell you.” Vriska rolled her eyes even harder and crossed her own arms, putting all her weight on one left and jutting the other hip out. “Our mission is to do a rescue thing. Appaaaarently, Feferi, Callie, and Eri got themselves captured on THEIR mission yesterday, so now WE have to go after them.” Sollux actually perked up a little, hearing the others had failed.

 

“Seriously? FF, ED, and CL got captured? Who the hell were they up against?”

 

“Oh, you know, that OTHER organization. SBurb or something stupid like that,” said Vriska, tossing her hair over her shoulder again. “So are you coming with me or not? This is a direct order from Empress, after all. You sure you want to defy her?” Sollux’s heterochromic brown and blue eyes narrowed as he processed Vriska’s words. 

 

“No, I wouldn’t want to do that. Who else is going to be on our team? Surely, after that, she wouldn’t just send us two.”

 

“Uh, DUUUUUUH! Of course not. I chose to bring you along, and Empress chose two others to come with. Why not fight fire with fire? She chose Maid and Page,” Vriska said, glancing over at the two in question, sitting on the couch together, talking quietly. Sollux followed her gaze.

 

“Right. She stole them from that organization a while ago, didn’t she?”

 

“Yuuuuup! So now, it’s time to get even. You in?” Vriska questioned, turning her attention back to Sollux. He just nodded and turned around to face the computer again, doing a few quick strokes on the keyboard and shutting it down.

 

“I’m ready. Let’s grab them and go.” Vriska scoffed at him as he finished up whatever he was doing and stood, lanky body standing a good few inches taller than her.

 

“Hey. I’m the leader here. Not you, twiggy. Now, let’s go get them and head to the training area.” With that, Vriska stalked off to the couch, Sollux in tow.

 

“The training area? Why the hell do we need to go there?” His question didn’t slow the blonde down.

 

“Empress said we needed to learn how to ‘work together’,” she said using air quotes. “Apparently, that must have been a factor for those three idiots getting captured. The SBurb guys know how to work with one another.”

“Seriously? That’s so stupid. Why can’t we just avoid each other and separate them? Take them down individually?” commented Sollux. Vriska shrugged.

 

“Doesn’t work well, I guess.” By that point, the two had reached the couch. “Hey losers. We have a mission. Get your asses to the training room pronto.” Crystalline blue and bright green eyes turned to meet Vriska’s. 

 

“Do we have to?” questioned the one with the green eyes.

 

“Empress’ orders,” answered Vriska. The two on the couch looked at each other and stood.

 

“Very well. Lead the way.”


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, this chapter is late in coming because originally, I was going to have more in it. However, as I was writing the 'more,' somehow the chapter grew to 14k words. And that is no bueno. So here's the first part of it! The second part will be chapter 5. Be on the lookout for it soon!

The next morning, John’s gnawing hunger woke him from his deep sleep. He blinked slowly as his mind started waking up and catching up to his stomach. That being said, it took him a minute to realize he was trapped in his own bed, being held down by some sort of force. At first, he internally panicked. Was he being attacked? Had he been kidnapped in his sleep? Was it something else entirely? However, as his mind finally caught up to the situation, what was really going on was far from anything John would have ever expected.  
  
Blond locks of hair draped over a pale, sleeping face as John tilted his head back to figure out why he couldn’t move well. His brow furrowed in confusion and surprise as it dawned on him that his best friend was in the bed with him, cuddling him. Dave was spooning John, acting as the big spoon. The air manipulator blinked a few more times as he contemplated what to do about the situation.  
  
Sure, the two had bro-cuddles every now and again, but that was usually when John was depressed or really needed some sort of physical affection. Dave never did it willingly. At least, not that John had noticed. So this came as a shock to him. Why was Dave even in his room in the first place? For that matter, HOW did John even get to his OWN room? He didn’t remember anything past the end of the meeting with Sage after the mission the day before.  
  
Regardless, John’s stomach made itself known again by growling particularly loudly. He quickly moved his hands over his midsection in hopes to tone down the volume so as to not wake Dave, but it was in vain. After all, hands don’t do a good job of stifling noise. However, Dave didn’t even budge. His breathing stayed even as his face remained peaceful in sleep. It was actually kind of cute…  
  
Nope.  
Stop right there.  
  
Do NOT think about your best friend like that. It’s wrong in all the worst ways. John lightly shook his head against the pillow and sighed. His stomach desperately needed nourishment, and his throat was so dry, it was like the Sahara Desert. But how would he get out without waking Dave? John laid in bed a little longer and contemplated what to do. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that he just needed to move Dave’s arm and get out of bed. Luckily for him, Dave chose to sleep on the inside, leaving John ample room to roll out with little trouble.  
  
Slowly, ever so slowly, John carefully lifted his friend’s arm and tucked it against his body. Dave didn’t so much as snort in his sleep. If it weren’t for him breathing, John would honestly wonder if Dave were dead. Seeing the all-clear, however, the air manipulator quietly padded in yesterday’s clothes over to the door, checking behind him as he opened it to make sure Dave was still asleep. Satisfied in what he saw, John turned toward the hallway as he shut the door behind him and nearly shouted in surprise.  
  
Right in front of him were two of the facility staff, one holding a pitcher of ice water and a glass, the other holding a pad of paper and a pencil.  
  
“What the hell?” John couldn’t stop himself from saying. The one with the water poured it in the glass and handed it over to John.  
  
“Sage instructed us all to take half hour rounds here, waiting for you to wake up so that we could feed and water you. You passed out in the meeting room before you could leave to go to dinner. Sage carried you to your room and tucked you in. We’ve only been out here for about ten minutes, don’t worry.” The glass was handed over to John, who gratefully took it and downed it in about 30 seconds flat, handing it back over for a refill. While that was being poured, John looked at the two staff again.  
  
“So. I passed out? Does anyone know why I passed out? I honestly don’t remember anything,” he said. The staff looked at one another before the one with the paper spoke.  
  
“We’re not really sure either, but Sage said it must have been something to do with your overexertion. You used a lot of energy in the mission yesterday. You kind of just dropped in the middle of the meeting room and they couldn’t wake you up. We heard that Dave apparently freaked out a little when you dropped. Anyway, I need to take your order for breakfast or honestly just food in general. You are being allowed to eat in your room today. Sage is making an exception since obviously you aren’t feeling so good.” Sage was allowing someone to eat in their room? That was nigh unheard of in the facility. John felt special. Maybe he should faint more often? He chuckled to himself a little before letting the guy know some foods he’d like to eat, making sure to order enough to feed Dave, too. He just had a feeling the other would wake up before the food came and would be hungry as well. Once the two had finished their jobs, the one leaving John with the water and glass, they walked off. John turned back to his room, noting the door semi-open due to him not fully shutting it. He walked in and placed the pitcher of water on his desk and finished the glass of water he currently had, setting it down afterward as well. He sighed and turned around to check on his friend only to find the other sitting up and staring at him.  
  
“Jesus, Dave! You scared the crap out of me. Say something once in awhile when you wake up, why don’t you?” John said, having nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw those reddish-brown eyes watching him moving. Dave’s eyebrow raised just a hair at the statement.  
  
“Nah, man. This was much more fun. It’s refreshing to see you jump every now and again,” was all he said, stretching a little. John couldn’t turn away as his friend did so, eyes scanning the lithe, muscular body. No! You told yourself earlier you wouldn’t think of your friend like that! Not to mention, you weren’t a homosexual. John lightly shook his head again, getting sick and tired of his thoughts invading everything and not letting him really think about the important things.  
  
“Whatever, dude. What time even is it?” John asked, not having checked his clock before getting up, mind too distracted by hunger. Keeping eye contact with him, Dave answered.  
  
“6 AM. I usually get up about the time anyway. That or, occasionally, I’ll force myself back to sleep for 2 hours and get up at the scheduled time.” That reminded John.  
  
“By the way, what the hell even are you doing in my room? Yours is just up the hall,” John asked, taking a seat on his bed next to his friend who shrugged.  
  
“I was exhausted after dinner. Couldn’t really make it to my own room after I stopped in here to check on you. You fucking dropped like a sack of potatoes yesterday, man. Right in the middle of the meeting room. How much did you even use your powers? Like, I used quite a bit of mine yesterday in tandem with Dirk’s, but even I wasn’t that tired. Are you ok?” John couldn’t help but smile at the slight ramble Dave gave him. It was the other’s way of showing John actually meant something to him.  
  
“I used a lot of them yesterday. I suffocated two of those users and kept summoning and having to disperse the wind when helping you two out. Not to mention, carrying all three back was a lot after the stress of all the fighting. I didn’t realize I hadn’t moderated as well as I normally did, though. Otherwise, I’m sure I wouldn’t have passed out like that.” The air manipulator scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. Normally, he was a lot better about his control. The fight yesterday had taken a lot out of him. Those opponents were the toughest he’d had to face. The fight took a long time, and he never was one for endurance. Looks like that was something he’d really need to work on.  
  
“Well, I guess your endurance always did suck something hard, so I shouldn’t really have been surprised.” Dave let out a yawn he’d been desperately trying to hold back.  
  
“Come on, dude. Just admit that you were worried about me,” John teased, play punching Dave’s arm, making sure he pulled his strength so he didn’t actually hurt the other. Dave just looked right at him with a completely serious face.  
  
“Alright. I was worried, John. I’ve never seen you pass out like that after a mission. After training, sure. But never like that. You were completely fine until you stood up and then… you dropped. If I hadn’t moved fast enough, you would have hit the floor or the table or something and potentially been hurt. Honestly, it kinda freaked me out,” he said, looking away half-way through. Admitting his feelings like that wasn’t usually something he did. “It freaked out the others, too. Everyone called your name, dude. You gave everyone a scare.” John’s smile fell as Dave talked, not realizing that things were that bad. He hadn’t meant to worry people… especially not that much.  
  
“I’m sorry, Dave… I wasn’t expecting you to admit all that, but I’m glad you said it. I’m fine, really I am. All I remember from yesterday after we got back was that it was hard to keep my eyes open. Everything kind of felt rubbery and stiff. I saw a little black tinging my vision, but I pushed it back. I know I talked some during the debriefing, but I can’t remember what I said. When I stood up, all of a sudden it felt like I was floating. All I could think was ‘this is so relaxing.’ Then, I woke up here with you.” He considered adding ‘spooning me’ but decided against it. Dave was already showing vulnerability he normally didn’t. There was no need to call him on it even more.  
  
“It’s fine, John. Just don’t fucking do it again, ok?” Dave gave his friend a light noogie and moved around him to stand up. “I’m going to take a piss, ok? I’ll be right back. No peeking, John,” Dave teased, face completely stoic. John stuck his tongue out at the blond.  
  
“I’m not a homosexual, Dave! I don’t need or want to know what your dick looks like. I’m content out here.”  
  
“Whatever, man. That sounded like too much of a denial to me, but hey. It’s your life.” With that, the fire manipulator walked into the bathroom conjoined with the bedroom and shut the door behind him. When he had the solitude, he ran a hand over his face and walked over to the toilet, doing his business. Why had he told John how he honestly felt about the situation? What the hell was wrong with him? His friend had always iterated how much of a heterosexual he was, never even giving Dave a sidelong glance of interest. Damn heart! Washing his hands, Dave chanced a look in the mirror. Sleep tousled hair and light bags under his eyes. Nice thing for him to wake up with. His body was still stiff from yesterday’s mission, but overall, he could be worse. After all, he wasn’t injured. He was just tired. Ah well. Such was life. Without so much as a second glance in the mirror, Dave walked out of the bathroom.  
  
While he was in there, John was having his own internal struggle. The things he felt for his best friend weren’t natural. Dave always teased him about being gay, and he always denied it, but he couldn’t deny that there was something there that wasn’t always exactly platonic. And it weirded him out. Surely, he couldn’t like-like his best friend. That was just asking for something bad to happen, wasn’t it? John bit his lip as he contemplated all his thoughts. Sure, he’d admired Dave’s lithe body before, but that was because John was broad. Not as broad as Sage, but his super strength made him bigger than most of the other men in the facility. He admired Dave’s smaller shoulder span and his narrower hips. He liked that his best friend didn’t have too many showy muscles and could hold his own in a fight against John. That wasn’t that weird, right? He wasn’t given too much more time to think about that as there was a knock at his door. He stood and walked over to it, opening it to find the cook with a cart full of food. It was definitely more than he’d ordered.  
  
“Hey there, John. I heard you passed out yesterday, so I made you more food than you requested so you can really get your strength back. I hope you don’t mind,” he said, gesturing to all the items. John gave him a reassuring smile.  
  
“It all looks great, Joe. I’m actually really glad you made extra food.” John looked around out of the door before lowering his voice. “Between you and me, Dave spent the night in my room, too tired to get to his own, so he’s here. This will be plenty for the both of us. Thank you!” Joe offered him a smile of his own and a small chuckle.  
  
“Alright, well, have fun eating! I hope you feel better, kid.” John waved to him as he retreated before pulling the cart into his room right as Dave exited the bathroom.  
  
“Right on time! Food just arrived. Feel free to dig in. My turn to take a leak,” John said, walking past Dave to do his business. Dave took one look at the cart and wondered, at first, how the hell any one person would ever be able to eat all that food. Then, he remembered it was John. The guy was like a bottomless pit. It never ceased to amaze him that his best friend ate like he’d never eat again. Where the hell did it all go? All Dave could ever see on John was a flat stomach and muscle. It’s like, there wasn’t an ounce of fat on his body aside from slightly soft cheeks, but even then. He had a pretty sharp jawline and cheekbones. Dave, on the other hand, had squishy cheeks, not something he was really proud of. Not to mention, he didn’t have like, a six pack like John did. His stomach was still somewhat squishy looking. It wasn’t fair. John was the hot friend.  
  
While he was lost in his thoughts, John exited the bathroom and pulled the cart over to the bed and sat down, grabbing a plate and fork and digging in.  
  
“Oh my god, Dave! You HAVE to eat some of this! Joe really outdid himself today, holy fuck. It’s like, the food of the gods or some shit like that,” John rambled after chewing that first bite. Dave couldn’t help but shake his head and finally make his way over to the bed, sitting down next to the other and opening his mouth for a forkful. John delivered and scooped up some of the food with his fork, placing it in Dave’s mouth. The blond chewed and hummed his approval.  
  
“Damn, man. That IS really good. Shit, did Joe put crack in it or something. Shit’s got me fuckin trippin.” John laughed at his choice of words and returned to eating while Dave grabbed a different plate to consume.  
  
“I don’t know, but it is soooo good. I knew I was hungry, but I didn’t realize HOW hungry I was until I started eating. Dave, I’m not sure how much of this food you’re getting,” John said, polishing off his plate in just a few more bites and reaching for the burger in front of him. Dave actually snorted into his food and had to cover his mouth with a hand.  
  
“Dude, you’re always hungry. How is this any different? And technically, I’m pretty sure none of this food was even supposed to be for me,” he stated, still working on his first plate while John devoured at least half his burger in the short time span of Dave talking.  
  
“It’s not really any different. Except the fact that I feel like I could literally eat an entire fucking cow. My stomach is rumbling even as I’m eating this.” Dave could only watch in mild amazement as John ate the last of the burger and moved onto another plate.  
  
“Seriously, dude. Where does it all go? How are you not, like, 800 pounds?” he questioned, just finishing his first plate. John shrugged and swallowed his mouthful of food.  
  
“I honestly have no idea. Rolanda told me the last physical I had that I have the metabolism of a hummingbird because of my super strength, so that might have something to do with it. I guess in order to keep myself healthy, I have to consume at least twice the average daily calories since my system breaks them down so fast.” Dave shook his head.  
  
“Damn, man. That’s intense.”  
  
“Yeah. It’s another reason Dad was more than ok with these guys taking me. I was starting to cost him too much with my eating habits. He couldn’t keep up with my nutritional needs. In fact, it worried him that I was eating that much and gaining NO weight whatsoever. Had it not been for Sage sending guys for me when he did, Dad would have taken me to a shrink to have me evaluated for an eating disorder and then take me to a nutrition specialist and figure out why I wasn’t gaining any weight. He was worried my body was screwed up. And then I caused a mini tornado in town and that was that,” John explained as he worked on his third plate.  
  
“So, you could accidentally cause a mini tornado when you were six, but you can’t intentionally create one without exhausting yourself when you’re 20. Nice,” Dave teased. He received a small shove.  
  
“Oh screw you, asshole!” John laughed, nearly spilling his food. Dave even let himself chuckle as he continued eating. The two finished the rest of the food on the cart and made idle talk as they did so. No surprise, John did eat most of the food. When they cleaned off the cart, John laid back on his bed with a hand on his stomach and gave a happy, content sigh.  
  
“Now that is what I’m talking about. That was amazing. I actually feel full right now,” he said. Dave pushed the cart back a little and stretched out next to the other.  
  
“You actually feel full? Call the fire department. We have an emergency. The world is ending. I repeat, the world is ending, copy? John Egbert feels full. Never before has such a phenomena occurred in the history of the world. Alert the president. Alert the queen. Shit’s about to get real.” John nearly shoved Dave off the bed as he laughed.  
  
“Stop it! It’s not like it’s never happened before. You know I usually eat my fill at dinner, so I get full then. I mean, not that it really matters. I’ll be hungry again in about an hour, but still!” Dave rolled onto his side and laid his head on his arm.  
  
“I’m messing with you, man. Your stomach is seriously a bottomless pit. Anyway, how are you doing?” he asked, changing the subject briefly to see if John felt any better than when he woke up. John rolled onto his side, too.  
  
“Yeah. I’m feeling loads better. I’m fed and watered. I’m still sore and kind of tired, but overall, I feel fine.” He offered a reassuring smile to the other. That was when the first knock came at the door. Both the men glanced over as John rose to answer it. On the other side, he was met with Rose.  
  
“Oh! Hi, Rose. What brings you-” The blonde grabbed him into a hug. John was stunned for a moment before relaxing and hugging her back.  
  
“Thank the powers that be you are alright. You gave everyone quite the fright yesterday, John. I- oh? Is that Dave I spy in there?” she asked, a smirk coming to her face as she spotted her cousin over John’s shoulder. The two pulled away, John turning to the side to invite her in, shutting the door behind her.  
  
“Sup.” Dave gave Rose a small upward nod of acknowledgement to which she shook her head.  
  
“Well, well, well. And here I thought I’d be the first up to check on John. It appears that I was mistaken in believing so.” John spoke up before Dave could warn him not to say anything.  
  
“Well, he wasn’t exactly necessarily up first. He kind of spent the night in here, apparently.” If Dave wasn’t cool enough not to facepalm, he would have facepalmed. As it stood, his cheeks became lightly dusted in a soft blush as Rose gave him a look that said ‘Oh really?’ She verbally echoed the look.  
  
“Oh really, Dave? You spent the night in here? When you know you aren’t supposed to sleep anywhere besides your own room? How scandalous. Let us hope that you have not overly tainted our precious, naive John,” she teased, Dave frowning as John laughed.  
  
“Him? Taint me? In what way, Rose?” he chuckled, Dave remaining silent. Rose raised a knowing eyebrow at John.  
  
“In what way, you ask? Why, in a sexual way, John. Don’t you know that Dave is so into you?” Dave actually found himself groaning at Rose’s words. John blinked in confusion and surprise.  
  
“Wait, what? You’re pulling my leg! Dave and I are just best bros. That’s all. Why would he taint me sexually? He’s not into me that way. I know that for a fact,” John rushed to get out. It hurt him a little to say it all, and he wasn’t entirely sure why, but it did. Dave also felt a pang of hurt in his heart, but he ignored it in favor of speaking up.  
  
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I spent the night here. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. I came to check on him before heading to bed and was too tired to get to my room. So, I crashed here. End of story. And no, I don’t like him like that, Rose. If I did, I’d be a lot more obvious about it.” Rose looked between the two and then rolled her eyes as she shook her head once more.  
  
“Of course. My mistake. Anyway, John. How are you feeling? That was my intention when I came here, after all.” She directed her attention solely to John at that point. The other just smiled at her and Dave, entertained by their antics.  
  
“I’m doing a lot better now, Rose. I’m sore and still a little tired, but overall, I’m doing better. I don’t really feel drained anymore nor do I feel lightheaded. So, don’t worry about me!” he laughed, showing off that he was back to his usual self, if a bit run down from normal due to the leftover tiredness. Rose smiled a him and walked back over, hugging him once again.  
  
“I’m glad, John. I’ve been worried about you. The only reason I slept last night was due to my own exhaustion. Do you think you’ll join us for dinner?” John looked at Dave then back to Rose and shrugged.  
  
“Honestly, I have no idea at this point. I need to make it through today and see where that gets me. I should be able to, but just in case, don’t get your hopes up, ok?” He offered them both a comforting look and a one shoulder shrug. Rose nodded and moved toward the door.  
  
“Then, I shall leave you two be for now. I just wanted to come see how John was doing. Oh! Did Dave tell you that we have the next couple days off to recover?” She gave them a coy smile and walked (glided) out the door, closing it behind her. John and Dave shared a look as Dave shrugged his shoulders minutely and laid back on John’s bed.  
  
“I’ll never understand her. She’s a trip and a half, especially when she feels like she knows something either no one knows or haven’t really drawn attention to.”  
  
“She’s not that bad, Dave. She’s pretty cool, actually. Strange, but cool.” John sat on the bed next to his best friend.  
  
“Whatever you say, man. Being related to her is something else entirely, though. Just saying.” John raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Really, Dave? You know what? I’m not going to argue with you about anything. There’s no point.” He heaved a sigh and stretched. “So we have tomorrow and the next day off to recoup?” he asked, looking at his shadeless best friend.  
  
“Yeah, man. It’s totally gunna be the shit. I’ll get so much of my comic done. This will be amazing. You might have to just pass out after every so often so we can all get a break.” John lightly punched Dave in the arm.  
  
“Dude! I don’t want to pass out all that often. It kinda sucked,” he commented on it with a serious expression.  
  
“Yeah, I know. I was making a joke, dude. Anyway, so what do you want to do? It’s your day, today. I’ll probably be here all day if you don’t mind having company,” said Dave, stretching out on the bed and knocking a couple of small blankets off of it. Before the two could delve deeper than that, another knock sounded at the door. This time, when John opened it, it was Jade standing there, bright smile in place.  
  
“Hi, John! I brought you some chocolates. I know you aren’t keen on sweets, but I heard they help!” she said, inviting herself in and setting the chocolates on the desk. She then turned to John and promptly gave him a very large, very hard hug. John actually almost stumbled back from the force of it before wrapping his arms around her and hugging back.  
  
“John, I was so damn worried! Don’t you ever pull that kind of shit again. Don’t use your powers if you feel you’ll use them too long. It was scary seeing you just drop like that, mister!” John smiled sheepishly.  
  
“For what it’s worth, I didn’t really enjoy it. I woke up sore and disoriented. And not to mention, super fucking hungry. I could have eaten a gazelle or something, I was THAT hungry. I drained like, 5 cups of water right off the bat and ate most of the food on that cart,” he said, gesturing to the cart that had previously been full to the brim with food.  
  
“Dude ate like a fucking hog. Shit was majorly disgusting. It was like-”  
  
“Dave, you’re here! I didn’t realize you were there when I walked in,” she said, interrupting what was probably going to be a long and convoluted metaphor of some sort. Jade went over to the blond and pulled him into a hug as well, lifting him even from the lying position he’d been in. He gave her a couple pats on the back before she let go of him.  
  
“How are both of you doing? Well, I hope?” Her hands were on her hips as she looked between the boys. John held out his arms, allowing Jade to approach him and give him a pat down to check for any injuries. When she was satisfied he was perfectly fine, just sore from overexerting himself, she pulled him in another hug.  
  
“We’re both fine, Jade,” John tried to explain during her examination. “I’m just tired and sore. Dave I think is completely fine, right?” Dave gave a curt nod, holding up his arms to dissuade Jade from giving him the same treatment as John. The blond wasn’t much one for physical affection anyway. Jade simply huffed and put her hands on her hips again.  
  
“Well, I’m still worried about you two. You said you ate, right? Did you eat, Dave? Or was all that food consumed by John?” she asked, gesturing back to the cart.  
  
“I ate some of that. Rather, I ate my fill. The rest actually was John’s fill. Buddy’s actually full for once, right, John?” Dave desperately wanted the attention off of him for a little while courtesy of Rose’s accusations.  
  
“Yeah. It’s weird to really be full, but the chef made so much extra food, it really did the trick,” John smiled at Jade. “Seriously, Jade. Don’t worry about us. We’re fine if a bit tired still,” he explained, watching Jade’s face. At first, she pouted, but then she sighed and smiled a little.  
  
“Well, as long as you’re ok. Just be careful next time, ok, John? Don’t exhaust your powers like that again. I mean it!” She pointed her finger at him menacingly. John held up his hands in surrender.  
  
“I won’t ever do it again. I promise, Jade.” Jade nodded and took him into a hug again. She hugged him tight for a moment and then let go, bounding over to Dave to give him a hug as well. He almost pushed her away, but decided to give her a half-assed return hug. When she pulled away, Jade looked at both men.  
  
“I’m going to go back to my room and work on some robotics, alright? If you two need anything, let me know! Behave, you two!” she said with a snicker and darted out of the room. John couldn’t help but laugh at her antics with Dave shaking his head slightly. Jade definitely was starting to feel back up to snuff after the incident involving the loss of her brother. However, thinking like that made John pause.  
  
“Hey, before we continue with the day, I need to call my dad. I need to talk to him about what happened yesterday. I’d rather he hear it from me than from someone from here blabbing it to him because they are legally obligated or some shit like that. So, I’m going to go give him a quick call, alright?” Dave just shrugged.  
  
“Dude, do whatever you need to do. I’ll head to my room for a bit to shower and get started on the next upload of Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff. When you’re done, come find me and we can chill together today. Maybe order another insane amount of food so I can watch you devour it all like a champion.” John rolled his eyes before smiling at his best friend.  
  
“Alright, Dave. I’ll come get you in like, half an hour or so? I’m not really sure how long it’ll be with my dad.” Dave put up a hand to wave John off.  
  
“Go, dude. Your father awaits.” Dave moved past John through the door and headed up the hall to his own bedroom. John left not too far behind the swordsman, heading to Sage’s office to talk to him about calling his dad.  
  
The walk was a short one, he mused while knocking on a large door. A moment later, it was opened to reveal Sage.  
  
“John! You’re awake. How do you feel?” He embraced John lightly and gently, guiding him over to a chair to sit on. The younger sat on the proffered chair before answering.  
  
“I’m fine, Sage. Tired and sore, as I’ve told everyone else, but I’m alive and well. I was actually wondering if I could call my dad and explain to him what happened before you guys make your courtesy call.” Sage sat back in his own chair.  
  
“Are you sure that’s a smart idea, John? Won’t he worry unnecessarily? We weren’t even planning on calling him over this, to be completely honest with you. You succeeded in your mission, were uninjured, and only passed out from exhaustion. There was no need to give an alert call,” Sage explained as John’s face morphed into one of confusion.  
  
“But I thought you had to call him after anything that happened… So you really weren’t going to call him over this?” asked John, wondering if he’d told his dad too much about his life there without needing too now that Sage said that. Meanwhile, Sage shook his head.  
  
“No. Only if something really serious happens, like that time you broke your leg during training. We called him about that because your leg was broken. However, when you got sick several months ago, that was no reason to call him. You had pneumonia. It was treatable and not that serious,” explained the director of the agency. John huffed at that. “Why? Have you told him every little thing that’s happened and worried him more than necessary?” he asked, a bit of a smile on his face. John really was innocent and honest.  
  
“...Maybe… Oh well, can I still call him? It’s been awhile since we’ve talked and I’d like to speak with him again. I miss him.” Sage nodded and stood.  
  
“Very well. Follow me then,” he said, leading the other out of the office and into the call room. In that room were several small, soundproof booths. They were private for conversations of utmost importance as well as for the sake of privacy when some of the kids called their guardians or siblings. “Just let me know when you’re done so that I can lock up the room again.” The room was normally locked to prevent impermissible calls. Sage needed to verify that everyone was calling who they said they would. It was for their protection.  
  
“Will do. Thank you, Sage! And thanks for bringing me to my room last night. I’m sorry I was a burden on you,” John apologized sheepishly, heading over to one of the booths.  
  
“You weren’t a burden, John. We were all just worried about you. Please be more careful next time. Understand?” John nodded and entered one of the booths, picking up the phone and dialing his dad’s number.  
  
“Hello. This is Jaye Egbert speaking.”  
  
“Hi, Dad.” Just hearing his dad’s voice was already making John feel loads better. He smiled through the phone.  
  
“John! What a pleasant surprise! I wasn’t expecting a call for a while longer. Are you alright? Did something happen?” Concern laced the older man’s voice as he spoke with his son. He sounded close to fretting.  
  
“I’m fine, Dad. Relax. We just had a mission yesterday, and I overused my powers some. I passed out right after the debriefing when we got back. But don’t worry! I’m perfectly fine! I’m just a little tired and sore from overexertion. I’ll be back to normal by tomorrow at the latest.” John knew he needed to tell his dad what had happened, but at the same time, he didn’t want to worry the other too much.  
  
“You passed out? John! Why would you overuse your powers to that extent?” There was a hint of fatherly disapproval lacing the other voice. John sighed.  
  
“We were against a couple really tough opponents. I needed to use everything I had to help take them down. I didn’t realize how much I’d used until I did get back to the office. That’s when it hit me. My vision tinted black, and that’s really all I remember. I woke up in my bed. Apparently, Sage carried me there to make sure I was ok.”  
  
“...Well as long as you’re ok. Did you eat anything?” Jaye conceded to his son as he explained everything. John let out the small breath he’d been holding in anticipation for his father’s reaction, smiling through the phone.  
  
“Of course! You know me and my bottomless pit for a stomach. I packed away almost an entire cart of food when I woke up. I’m still full from it. But I’ll definitely be ready for dinner. You don’t have to worry about that,” he laughed, hearing his dad chuckle on the other line.  
  
“As long as you are happy, healthy, and well fed, I am ok as well. The bakery is doing well…” With that, the two moved on to a normal route of conversation, talking about their daily lives and just catching up with one another. It was so nice to be able to speak with his dad again. John couldn’t wait until Christmas when he’d get to see him again, too. That one time a year was always a happy one for him.  
  
After about an hour of talking, John finally hung up the phone, standing and stretching as he made his way out of the room and to Sage’s office.  
  
“Hey, Sage. I’m done. You can lock up the room again. Thank you for letting me talk to him. I think it really helped.” Sage looked up from his paperwork and nodded.  
  
“Of course, John. If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to let me know. Now, go on and enjoy the rest of the day. You deserve it. You made me so proud yesterday.” That made John pause for a moment.  
  
“That reminds me. How are the three we captured yesterday doing?” Sage’s face fell slightly.  
  
“Unfortunately, I don’t know. And you also know that even if I did, I’m not at liberty to tell you right now.” John shrugged.  
  
“I know, but it was worth a try, wasn’t it? I’m just a little worried is all. The only one who truly seemed gung-ho for that fight was the guy. So, I guess I’m just curious, too. Were they coerced into it? Were they manipulated? Did they actually really want to do it? There are a lot of questions.” Sage sighed and leaned back in his chair.  
  
“Yes, John. There are a lot of questions. But you know that right now we can’t answer any of them. Not to mention, it’d be best if you didn’t get too attached to the idea of those three just in case we can’t reform them to be reintroduced to society. I wouldn’t want you to get crushed if that were to happen. Now, go on and have a nice day off. Go hang out with Dave or something. Whatever it is you young kids do now,” he added with a small laugh.  
  
“You’re not that old, sir. Don’t try to make me sound that young either. I’m twenty after all!” John puffed out his chest and flexed a little, showing off his muscles gained from training his super strength. Sage laughed even more.  
  
“You’re still significantly younger than me, John. I technically could be your father, even if I’d sired you at a young age. After all, I have Tavros, don’t I?” Sage pointed out.  
  
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, old man. I’ll see you later!” Before they could delve even further into a bit about ages and fathering, John headed out, making his way back to Dave’s room. Instead of knocking, he just walked in.  
  
Inside was a mess. There were cables littering the floor. The bed was a complete war zone. And there was Dave, sitting at his computer, using the mouse to draw out a character and render it in MS Paint. John almost wanted to sneak up on his friend but decided against it, knowing he’d be seeing the business end of a sword if he did.  
  
“Hey, Dave. How’s that shitty comic coming along?” he asked, moving over to the bed and sitting. However, he sat on something hard and shot up, looking under the covers to find one of the jarred fetuses Dave liked keeping in his room. “What the hell, dude?! Why is this on your bed?” Dave didn’t even turn around, focusing on coloring the very shitty picture.  
  
“It’s coming along great, man. I’ve been able to get a hell of a lot accomplished in the hour you spent talking to your dad. A whole half a panel. It’s like motherfucking Christmas up in this bitch with how much I’ve gotten done. Also, don’t question an artist. Shit’s always where it needs to be for the right inspiration to hit.” He said that completely straight-faced as he continued drawing, adding what looked to be a Christmas tree on stairs to the panel. John just gaped at him.  
  
“Really, dude? Fucking really? This is here for inspiration? Are you fucking shitting me? It’s- You know what? Nevermind. There’s no point in arguing with you on this. It’s stupid. So, are we going to do anything after you finish that panel? Or are you just going to work on that all day?” John chose another area of the bed to sit on after close examination.  
  
“Yeah, we’ll do something else. Give me another five minutes to finish this up and then we can get to it. What do you want to do?” He polished off the tree and added another character into the mix.  
  
“I don’t know. Maybe we could just watch some movies? I’d really like to watch ‘Ghost Busters’ again or even maybe-”  
  
“Don’t you dare fucking say what I think you’re going to say.”  
  
“What was I going to say then, hmm?”  
  
“We are NOT watching ‘Con Air’, John. That movie completely sucks dick. You know it.” Dave, not so kindly, tore down John’s movie possibilities. ‘Ghost Busters’ he could deal with. ‘Con Air’ he could not. “Nic Cage is NOT as great an actor as you believe him to be, John. I’d rather watch ‘Little Monsters’ than ‘Con Air.’ And even then, that movie sucks, too.” John huffed.  
  
“Nic Cage is SO the best actor. And I wasn’t going to say ‘Con Air’ OR ‘Little Monsters,’ I’ll have you know! I was going to say we could watch something you’d like to watch,” he hastily covered his own ass. Naturally, Dave had predicted exactly what he was going to say, so he had to prove he wasn’t that predictable. Dave just shook his head.  
  
“Whatever, John. Keep telling yourself that. Anyway, we can watch ‘Ghost Busters.’ That one’s fine with me. Afterward, I’ll choose a movie. How does that sound?” With that, the two friends planned their day off together.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will apologize now. This chapter is suuuuuper long. I thought I'd be able to cut it down some or something, but it still ended up being a little over 13,000 words. So, enjoy it!

Elsewhere in the facility of H.O.M.E., there wasn’t such a carefree feeling in the air as the one John and Dave had planning their day off together. In the depths of the facility, in a dimly lit room, there stood the head scientist of S.B.U.R.B. in front of one of the captives from the day prior.  
  
“Hello there. My name is Rolanda, and I’d like you to answer a few questions I have,” the scientist addressed the girl with platinum blonde hair. Her green eyes shifted up to meet almost purple ones. She blinked a few times and opened her mouth to speak. A very soft, almost demure voice came forth.  
  
“Thank you, Rolanda. Thank you and your facility.” Rolanda looked at her in confusion.  
  
“What do you mean by that? Why are you thanking us?” The girl took a deep breath and settled back in the chair she was chained loosely to.  
  
“Thank you for getting us out of there. Out of L.O.R.D. My name is Calliope English. I am very willing to work with you.” The scientist sensed she was already getting somewhere, even if the thanks threw her for a loop.  
  
“Well, Calliope, it is a pleasure to meet you. Can you tell me what exactly L.O.R.D. is?” Might as well start with the most basic of questions.  
  
“L.O.R.D., or League of Royal Demons, is an agency much like this one, consisting of those with powers. However, unlike this one appears to be, our leader’s goals are to show the world just how powerful we are and make the common folk kneel to us,” was the explanation given. Calliope seemed willing to give information, but only as much as the question allowed. Rolanda figured it was a method of gauging their intent as well before revealing too much.  
  
“Hmmm… interesting. Now, how many members are in L.O.R.D.?” Calliope paused for a moment before answering, needing to think on the number.  
  
“I would say close to about 100 members with powers, 200 without that help our facility, and about 20 with almost mastery over their respective powers, myself included in that.” Rolanda was taken aback by those numbers. For never having heard of that organization, there sure were a lot of members.  
  
“And those other 2 you were with were part of it? Can you tell me more about the other members involved as well as your own powers?”  
  
“My powers are very siren-like. I am a Muse, as I call myself and is my codename. After all, I can sing and put people into a trance-like state. It is quite the useful defensive power. As for the other members, the two that were brought in with me have plasmakinesis and life restorative/theft powers. The male, Eridan, can control, manipulate, and create plasma. His power is highly offensive and one of the most powerful in the facility. The girl, Feferi, has the life restorative/theft powers. She can drain life, give it back, weaken someone, or strengthen someone depending on her will. She must do it through touch, however, so having her chained up like me would prove to be most beneficial to you until you can get her to cooperate. Although, I presume that won’t take too much to do.”  
  
“Why do you say that? And for that matter, why are you so willing to come forth about information from this group? What do you gain from it?” questioned Rolanda, wanting to get to the bottom of things, growing more and more suspicious from the upfront attitude of the girl in front of her. Calliope heaved a large sigh.  
  
“Because the leader of L.O.R.D. is evil and conniving. She essentially wants world domination, as I’ve told you. Her methods are underhanded and nasty. She finds a power she likes and takes it. Both metaphorically by enlisting the wielder and literally. Her power is power theft. She can touch a power wielder and steal their power, leaving them as a normal civilian while she gains that ability on top of the multitude of other abilities she’s already collected. There seems to be no limit to how many she can collect.” That was a power Rolanda had never heard of. And, quite frankly, it was disconcerting.  
  
“That is quite the power to have. What abilities has she already stolen?”  
  
“She has electrokinesis, plasmakinesis, psionics, and most recently, mind control, on top of a number of others that I can’t even begin to imagine. She was already very powerful when my brother sought her out,” Calliope explained. One thing pinged the scientist’s attention other than the list of powers.  
  
“You have a brother? And he is a wielder as well?” True, the list of powers of the leader was disorienting and fear-inducing, but the prospect of more families with powers was enticing.  
  
“You don’t want him. He’s just as evil as her. He is a wielder, yes, but he is very corrupt. He brought me with him, deeming my power useful, and sold us out to her.”  
  
“What are his powers?” Rolanda pushed. Calliope looked her straight in the eye.  
  
“He is a puppet master, Rolanda. He’s incredibly powerful, especially when paired with me.” Rolanda frowned and sighed.  
  
“Well, we will be on the lookout for him. Now, about this leader. You said she recruits members? How does she do that?” Calliope relaxed in her chair again.  
  
“Usually she hears of strange incidents throughout the states, and either she travels there or sends one of her minions to gather the person or people. If they choose not to come with her willingly, that’s where her mind control comes into effect. I would venture a guess of about 75% of the facility is mind controlled. Not a one of them knows it, however. Not anymore at least. They used to know and fight it, but since it’s been so long, they believe their purposes to be what they wanted all along.” That brought up even more questions in Rolanda’s mind.  
  
“So, if you didn’t want to be there in the first place, I’m assuming you fought it. How do I know you aren’t under mind control right now and just telling me what I want to hear?” That caused Calliope’s eyebrows to raise a little and a smile to grace her delicate face.  
  
“Now we are getting to the in-depth questions. That’s what I was waiting for. You see, I was put under mind control… or so she thought. I’ve been acting this entire time. I was never under her control. As a person with the ability to distort the mind and create a fog in it, my own mind is safe from any other powers that do that. I simply cannot be mind controlled. However, as soon as I figured that out, I knew I needed to play it off that I was if I wanted to survive and keep my powers.” Rolanda nodded and continued.  
  
“Are either of the other two that came in with you under mind control?” Calliope kept her smile.  
  
“Yes. Eridan is. Feferi, however, is not. Although, she doesn’t agree with the leader’s methods or desires either.”  
  
“Are her life powers considered a mind altering power?” asked Rolanda, now mildly confused why someone who didn’t agree with the leader wasn’t under control. Calliope shook her head.  
  
“No, of course not. She is the leader’s one and only daughter. So her mother obviously had some sort of an influence on her due to her raising and upbringing.” Rolanda nodded, that making sense to her now.  
  
“So you say Eridan is under mind control? Are any of the other 20 or so most powerful under mind control?”  
  
“Of course. You can’t honestly expect that many wielders to agree with her methods willingly, can you? A majority of them are mind controlled at this point. I believe there are only maybe 5 that aren’t? Aside from Feferi, myself, and my brother.” Rolanda stood and paced in front of Calliope as she considered the information that was being presented to her.  
  
“So you say that this leader has the ability to steal other people’s powers? Why has she personally not been out yet? I would venture a guess that she’d be able to take us down pretty easily if she went out herself. What are her plans for the group and how they’ll achieve their end goal?” Calliope considered the questions for a moment.  
  
“Yes, she has that ability. She’s done it many times since I’ve been there, every person leaving the facility a wreck and unable to function at the base level for quite some time, having been used to having their powers. I would assume that it feels like a void in your being having them stolen like that. Now, on to her methods and plans. She hasn’t been out personally yet because she sees no reason to be. It is the same reason she’s not sent my brother out yet. All of the oddball users you folks have taken down have been from L.O.R.D. She’s been sending them out by ones and twos in order to start establishing a presence out in the world. However, seeing as you have been taking down her men, or pawns as she would have them called, she’s been growing progressively more angry. That was why she finally sent out Feferi, Eridan, and myself. Although, to be honest, I believe that was my brother’s suggestion. He always was the impatient type.  
  
I do not know of her current plans, but seeing as we’ve taken out about as many of your members as you have ours, I believe she will think it time to start bringing out her power players. I also firmly believe you will have much more difficulty dealing with future teams from her. We’ve been stolen from her, after all. She won’t be happy about that, especially since one of the ones stolen was her daughter. I can very well assume that she’ll try to steal away a member or two from your organization in retribution for stealing us away. Just a fair warning for you. If you don’t want your best members taken from you, don’t send them out when she sends out her next team,” warned Calliope. Rolanda ceased her pacing for a moment to consider everything presented to her.  
  
“If that’s the case, then how do we take down any team she sends out? If we can’t send out anyone we would rather not risk losing, how are we to succeed?” Green eyes once more met purple.  
  
“That is up to you to decide. I can, however, tell you that no matter what, it won’t be easy. The decision is a hard one to make. It also depends on the strength of your strongest. Can they outwit and out-power her teams? I, myself, cannot tell you as I don’t know your members. Although, I would venture a guess to say that the team that took us down was one of your strongest?” Rolanda hesitated, but she eventually nodded.  
  
“Since you are giving me the information I need, I will give you this. Yes, they are some of our strongest. Even more so than our more adult members. These young ones are exceptionally strong. But they are also so young. Just as you are, I presume?”  
  
“My age matters not, Rolanda. Nor does theirs. We’re all in the same situation, are we not? We all have powers, weak or strong, that we have learned to live with and control. Age is no determining factor in a fight such as this one. In fact, younger wielders, from my own observations with L.O.R.D. seem the most easily adaptable. They can take in a situation and come up with a solution a lot more quickly than an older adult can, regardless of power level. However, that is slightly beside the point, is it not?” Rolanda sighed and nodded.  
  
“Yes, you are right. We must get back to the main topic here. So, you are volunteering all this information due to the fact that you’d like to see L.O.R.D. fall, am I correct in assuming that? You’ve already stated that you do not like the methods used and have thanked us for getting you out of there.” Calliope took her turn to nod.  
  
“That is correct. I never wanted to go there in the first place, nor do I believe in her ideals that the common folk should kneel to wielders as if they are lower. I believe that everyone is equal, despite the fact that some of us have powers. That doesn’t make us better or worse than anyone else. It simply makes us different and even potentially a little more useful, depending on the power. I’d rather see a world of equality instead of a table flip like L.O.R.D. desires,” she explained. “That is why I thanked you. And I’m sure Feferi will as well once you manage to convince her that this is for the best.”  
  
“So, since you know Feferi and how she’ll handle things, can you help me decide the best way of convincing her that we are friends, not foes?” Calliope nodded.  
  
“Of course I can. Provided you release these chains. I’m finding them very uncomfortable. I understand your reasoning for them, however they’re relatively in-effective with a power such as mine. You’ll need to come up with a better method for sound manipulators, especially when you need to ask them questions. Perhaps, providing I prove myself useful to you and trustworthy, I can help you concoct a method of interrogation that would allow you to remain safe against wielders such as myself?” The scientist smiled at her.  
  
“We’ll see, shall we? You do have to prove yourself, as you stated. But once you have, we will ponder on the idea. I will release the chains on one condition. You promise to remain amiable and help me with questioning the other two, even if you aren’t present when I do so.”  
  
“I am in agreement of the terms you have set forth.” Rolanda hesitated a moment more before moving forward to undo the chains restraining Calliope. Once they’d been removed, the girl rubbed at her wrists smiling in relief at the small freedom granted to her. She then turned to the scientist.  
  
“Also know that if I truly desired to escape, all I would need to do is sing. You’d be entranced before you know it, and I could easily leave the facility with Feferi and Eridan in tow. However, you also have my word that I will do no such thing. Unless absolutely necessary, I shall not sing. It would be unscrupulous of me to do such a thing to the people helping me, wouldn’t it?” she chuckled, a musical sound escaping from her throat and putting a smile on Rolanda’s face.  
  
“I suppose so. I do appreciate that you’re so willing to help us, even if it is for your own benefit. Now, how can I wear down Feferi? I’m saving Eridan for last, seeing as he is the most likely to put up a fight.” Calliope considered for a moment before speaking.  
  
“Feferi will be easy to crack. All you need to do is reassure her that you are there to help. That I cracked and that you know she doesn’t agree with her mother’s methods of handling her powers. If you can convince her that you are a friend with polite words, gestures, and a show of your knowledge, then she will cave as well. She needs to know that you won’t hurt her or myself or Eridan. Eridan, especially. She’s very close to him and very protective of him. I can tell you that she hates that her mother had to mind control him. She tried convincing him to- actually. I will let her tell you that. It’s her story to tell, after all. Regardless, she needs to know you won’t hurt us. She needs to be aware that you are intelligent enough to warrant her trust. Those are the key points in getting her to divulge information to you.” Rolanda made a mental note of all the things presented by Calliope for when she went to speak with Feferi.  
  
“Very well. For now, I need to take you back to a small holding room so that I can bring Feferi out. You won’t be chained up or restrained, but you will be cooped up. I do apologize about that. It will only be until I have spoken to my head of operations and convinced him that you are ready to be introduced to the others.” Calliope simply folded her hands in front of her, the picture of poise and grace.  
  
“Of course, Rolanda. It does not bother me being in a small space. I am a patient person. I await your word on my introduction to others. Now, where it this room?” Rolanda smiled at her and led her to a small room to the right of the main room they were in. The small room had a chair and a small latrine area and was completely private. However, it was also made of reinforced steel and sound-proofed to help keep as many powers under control as possible. Before she fully went into the room, Calliope turned to Rolanda once more. “Oh! And remember that Feferi’s powers rely on touch. Beware of that when bringing her out.” With that, she entered the small room and sat herself on the chair.  
  
Rolanda moved away from the room and pondered for a short time. Was Calliope telling the truth? Was L.O.R.D. really bad enough for her to come forward with all that information and essentially sell them out to S.B.U.R.B.? Did Rolanda trust her enough to believe everything she was saying? All those questions and more ran through her head as she walked over to the recording equipment on the opposite side of the room. She always recorded her questionings to review later. They were sincerity checks along with reviews on how to best help the captive become a better person.  
  
The woman knew that the methods of restraining the wielders weren’t exactly good methods and appeared inhumane. However, when dealing with people who could potentially kill her with just a thought, any measure of protection was worth it in the end. That and it wasn’t like she didn’t consider them people. She just knew how dangerous some of them could be and took the precautions with every user. She never did anything inhumane aside from the restraint during her questioning.  
  
After reviewing the tapes and really taking in Calliope’s body language as she spoke, Rolanda determined she could trust the girl’s advice insomuch as working with Feferi to get more information out of her. With that thought in her head, the scientist moved to an entirely different small room on the left side of the main room. She carefully opened the door, taking in the image of a passed out girl on the chair. Her hands were bound with leather cuffs with a length of chain attached to them. Rolanda grabbed the chain and jangled it loudly, awaking the girl with a start. She knew she couldn’t carry Feferi without risking her waking up and killing her, so this was the best method.  
  
“Hi there. I’m Rolanda. I need you to follow me so I can ask you a few questions.” Almost pink eyes narrowed suspiciously at the scientist as the girl tugged at the cuffs.  
  
“Why am I restrained?” she questioned, not moving from her spot.  
  
“You are restrained due to your powers. You are at S.B.U.R.B. facilities. I know that your powers rely on touch and would therefore like to avoid any unnecessary risk to my person through touching you. That is the reason for the restraints. If you cooperate with me and my questioning, you won’t have to be restrained any longer. How does that sound?” Rolanda made sure to keep her voice even and kind as a reassurance to the girl. After all, Calliope had said that was what was necessary to get her to crack. The girl studied her for a moment more, eyes turning to the cuffs before sighing and standing. Rolanda grabbed the chain and led her out into the main room. It was obvious that the fight had taken a toll on her as her thick hair was a mess, and she had bags under her eyes. However, she also held herself rigid and proper, as if a member of royalty rather than a captive. Once presented with the same chair Calliope had sat in, Rolanda put the chains around her there as well. She still sat straight and regal, eyes holding a fire that said ‘mess with me. I dare you.’ Once she’d been properly restrained to Rolanda’s satisfaction, the scientist began her questioning.  
  
“What is your name?” Simple. Get something out of her to begin with. However, this proved to be the wrong thing to start with as the girl ignored her. Rolanda considered her options, Calliope’s words echoing in her mind.  
  
“Very well then, Miss. If you do not with to impart your name on me, that is perfectly understandable. However, I will be asking you a multitude of questions and it would be to your benefit to cooperate with me. After all, Calliope has already given me a good deal of information.” That wrought an immediate reaction. Fury.  
  
“What? How could she! That little snitch! When my mother hears about this-”  
  
“Ah, but she said you don’t agree with your mother’s methods of handling things. Is that true?” Rolanda cut in before Feferi could finish her thought which came as a surprise to her.  
  
“I… what? She said that? Why would I not agree with my mother’s methods? She’s my mother for God’s sake! Of course I agree with how she runs things! Calliope is a liar and telling you what you want to hear to save her own skin. Ooooh when her brother hears about her betrayal-”  
  
“Miss. If you would cease with your tirade I would like to also ensure that if you cooperate I won’t harm Calliope or Eridan. You have my word on that.” Feferi stopped her words in a second.  
  
“How can I hold you to that?” was all she asked. Rolanda knew that she’d won with that. The woman offered the restrained a smile.  
  
“You have my word. Calliope is in that room over to the right. I removed her restraints partly through her questioning. She told me a multitude of things. I’d mostly just like to confirm them with you and get your take on things. We want to help. We want to protect. We want to do whatever we can to get rid of this stereotype that wielders hold in the common world. We want them to be seen as equals, not monsters. However, we also don’t believe the common folk should be forced to fear or submit to the wielders. Do those sound like similar beliefs to yours?” Rolanda questioned, watching Feferi’s face move from suspicious to considering to suspicious again to set in determination. Their eyes met, pink ones filled with fire.  
  
“You promise you won’t harm Calliope or Eridan if I answer your questions? Know that if you break your promise, I will find a way to free myself and steal your life,” she threatened, clenching her fists and straining against the chains and cuffs to show how serious she was. Rolanda was actually impressed with her determination to keep her friends safe. It was an admirable trait to have and one S.B.U.R.B. strove to instill in all their members.  
  
“I promise or may the divinities that be smite me. Now, let’s start this again. What’s your name? Mine is Rolanda.” Feferi searched Rolanda one last time before settling back into the chair slightly, relaxing some.  
  
“Feferi is my name. Although, I’m sure Calliope already told you, seeing as you know hers and Eridan’s. I don’t see the need to ask me for mine.” Her tone was haughty and distrusting, almost mocking.  
  
“Yes, she did, but I wanted to hear it from you. After all, I couldn’t be absolutely sure that she was telling the truth. Using Eridan’s name was a risk, but to get you to answer my questions, it was a risk I was willing to take. It worked, did it not?” Feferi sighed, disinterested.  
  
“What is it you want to know, Rolanda? What else could I possibly tell you that I’m sure Calliope hasn’t already?”  
  
“Well, I was actually hoping I could get your take on a few things and then ask you some questions about yourself. The first thing. Calliope said you three were from an organization called L.O.R.D. Is that true? What is the end goal with the group? Can you tell me more about it?” Rolanda asked a few questions in quick succession with one another, just to get more information out of her at once. Feferi’s eyebrow raised as she rolled her eyes.  
  
“Yes, we are from L.O.R.D. I’m sure she already told you what that stands for. Our mission is to make the common folk kneel to our superior powers and stand at the top of the foodchain where we belong. I’m not sure what else there is to say. That’s what it is and what it’s about. What all has she already told you. Maybe I can confirm it so I’m not saying the same damned things she did. I’m sure that would be boring for you, wouldn’t it?” Feferi batted her eyelashes innocently at Rolanda. Rolanda felt her eyes narrow slightly at the girl’s cheeky tone, but pushed on.  
  
“She told me member numbers and a few other things regarding their powers. She told me a bit more about your powers as well as Eridan’s and your mother’s. Can you tell me about any of the other dangerous ones?” Maybe with that, Rolanda could get the girl to talk more.  
  
“Every single power is dangerous, Rolanda. Didn’t you know that? I bet you didn’t, seeing as you are part of the common folk.” That was it. Rolanda snapped the pencil in her hand in her frustration.  
  
“Why is it that you assume I am common folk because I am here questioning you and worrying about my own well-being?” she questioned, taking to circling around Feferi like a vulture. She could see the nervousness begin to take over the girl. Her breath hitched ever so slightly as she forced herself not to stutter.  
  
“Because. Why would they send a wielder to talk to me who was afraid of being attacked. Wielders are much stronger than that. I know they are.” It was a weak argument, but Feferi found herself struggling to come up with a fully coherent thought. Rolanda smirked and settled right in front of Feferi.  
  
“You aren’t the only one with powers, Feferi. I also have them, just in a different manner than you do. You see, I can manipulate my environment. I can’t necessarily manipulate emotions or anything, but I can get everyone in a certain area to feel what I want them to with my actions. They aren’t ‘powers’, per se, but they work for me. As shown by this little demonstration. You feel nervous, intimidated, slightly fearful of what is to come. Am I right?” Rolanda raised an eyebrow, her face showing her victory as Feferi gaped like a fish.  
  
“How the hell did you do that?”  
  
“It doesn’t take your kind of powers to instill a sense of fear or happiness or any other emotion I want people to feel. It all depends on my actions and demeanor. I’ve been told I have great charisma. So, I have a lot of influence.” Rolanda explained, standing back and relaxing herself. To Feferi, the air suddenly felt clearer, more friendly. She stared at the scientist in disbelief. “All it takes is the ability to read the human body, my dear. Now, where were we. You were going to tell me more about L.O.R.D. and the powers there that are the most dangerous, weren’t you?” Rolanda smiled sweetly at the girl who took a deep breath and finally cracked.  
  
“There are a multitude of powers kept under wraps in our facility. Many of them haven’t been outside since before their ‘enlisting’. They were simply to wait for the right time. I was used many times to ‘enlist’ members. Calliope’s very rarely been used, but she has been. Her brother, Caliborn, hasn’t been out at all. My mother’s been out a number of times as had her then second-in-command.” Rolanda tilted her head.  
  
“Her ‘then’ second-in-command? Can you tell me more about that?” Feferi nodded, seeming a lot more willing to work with Rolanda’s questions.  
  
“She had a partner when she started L.O.R.D. Her codename was ‘Mindfang,’ but her real name was Melissa Serket. She had a mind control ability. Now, when Mom and her started the organization, myself and Melissa’s daughter were dragged in. I wasn’t keen on it, but didn’t dare go against my mother. Vriska, Melissa’s daughter, shared her ability and was all for the mission statement. Cue several years going by as the organization grows. Mom and Melissa begin arguing more and more over leadership issues and decision-making. Finally, seeing as Vriska is now at least as powerful as her mother, Mom decides she’s had enough of Melissa’s bitching. She steals Melissa’s powers and has Vriska kill her as a show of her absolute power in the organization. Hence, ‘then’ second-in-command,” Feferi explained, revealing more and more about the people in the organization, former and current.  
  
“So your mother would stoop so low as to kill her own friends?” That meant nothing was really tying her down or holding her back. She’d probably even sacrifice her own daughter to gain her end. That made her very dangerous.  
  
“Of course. Mom is a tyrant in the most basic sense of it all. She may not necessarily be a ruler at this point, but her codename is ‘Empress’ and she intends to enslave humanity.” Feferi shrugged her shoulders as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. Rolanda bit at her fingernails.  
  
“That is troubling… However, it is something we can work around. Now, can you tell me more about Vriska’s position in this organization?”  
  
“She’s not Mom’s partner, if that’s what you’re asking. Mom has no need for her to be seeing as they share an ability now. The person that Mom talks to about her decisions now is Caliborn, the puppet master.” Rolanda nodded.  
  
“So how dangerous is Caliborn, then? Obviously, pretty dangerous based on his status in the organization.” It was Feferi’s turn to nod.  
  
“Of course. He IS a puppet master, after all. And paired with Mom’s mind control, they’re essentially an unbeatable duo. Unless, of course, you have a mind-altering ability. However, they don’t necessarily know about that. Calliope figured it out when Mom tried to control her. Caliborn was always willing to work with her as was Vriska, so neither of them have any clue about it. Do you have any mind-altering powers in this organization?” Feferi asked. She knew she may not get an answer, but it was worth a try.  
  
“You know as well as I that I cannot reveal that to you right now. You have to earn our trust and/or figure it out for yourself. So far, you’ve been cooperating. At least, the last ten or so minutes you have. Not as good as Calliope, but it’s better than what I’m expecting from Eridan,” Rolanda mused. Feferi sighed.  
  
“That’s for sure. Erifin hated going along with my mom. Especially after she killed his dad and brother. He had no choice, though. She mind controlled him into following her. I was tempted to break him out of it when he got to the facility, but I knew it’d be too painful for him,” Feferi explained, tears gathering in her eyes. She’d befriended Eridan before she knew he had powers. When he displayed them for her, of course her mother found out because of Vriska. She confronted the entire family, finding out his dad and brother also had the ability of plasmakinesis and was going to take them all. However, Eridan’s father had refused too hard, attacking her mother and earning himself a swift death. Eridan’s brother cowered, a trait her mother found disgusting, so she rid herself of him as well, deeming Eridan the only worthy one. Feferi remembered the day as clear as if it had happened the day before. Rolanda began speaking again, so the girl shook herself out of her reverie.  
  
“That’s terrible, Feferi. I feel so sorry for him and for you having to have gone through that. I will warn you, however, that due to the nature of our mission here, I am going to have to try to break him of the mind control,” Rolanda said with trepidation. She gauged the girl’s reaction, not knowing what sort of one she’d receive for that. Pink eyes blazed with fury as they met hers.  
  
“You said you weren’t going to hurt him!”  
  
“I am not going to! But we need him out of the mindset that L.O.R.D. is everything if we want to help him. Please understand that, Feferi. I know the memories and the feelings associated with them aren’t the greatest, but we need him to work with us,” she calmly (as calmly as she could, that is) told the furious life wielder. Feferi searched her face for signs of remorse and for signs of sincerity. Finally, after a few moments, the girl settled down.  
  
“Do NOT harm him, Rolanda. I’m putting my trust in your word. I know the mind control needs to be broken, but think of the ramifications. He’s been this way for a few years now. Think of what his mind will be like if you break him of that control, and he’s slammed with all the years of underhanded tricks and crimes he’s committed while thinking it was the right thing to do. Is it worth it?” Time to pull out the card she hated using.  
  
“It’s either we break him of the mind control and help him heal or we kill him for being unable to be reformed. Those aren’t my rules, but the facility abides by them. Those wielders we capture that are too far gone for us to help and who cannot be put back into society are ‘dealt with accordingly’. I hate it, but it’s the way the facility runs. They’re too dangerous to keep around or to put back into the normal world. And if we can’t help Eridan, he’ll fall under that category. Especially with powers like his.” Feferi’s jaw dropped. Then her face morphed into one even more furious than before.  
  
“YOU WOULDN’T DARE KILL HIM! NOT IF YOU WANT MY HELP! NOT IF YOU WANT CALLIOPE’S HELP! YOU _WILL_ FIND A WAY TO HELP HIM THAT DOESN’T INVOLVE DEATH OR VEGETATION FROM BEING OVERWHELMED BY MEMORIES! So help me Cthulu….” Feferi’s anger and fury was palpable, startling Rolanda. She’d never experienced anything like it before. It almost felt like a little bit of her life was drained from her in the process, and she wondered if Feferi knew that she could do that. Better not bring it up to her at that point in time, though.  
  
“I promise, Feferi. I will do whatever it takes to help him. I’m just telling you that I need to take certain measures to ensure he isn’t labeled a lost cause and killed. I hate having to tell people that and that we do it at all, but I don’t make the rules. I do everything in my power to help these wielders become better people with better morals. Trust me when I say I _want_ to help Eridan out. I want him to be able to make his own choices and have his own thoughts and sense of right and wrong. Please, believe me, Feferi.” Rolanda tried pacifying the angry wielder in front of her. She knew it was a risk saying that, but the scientist had to make the girl understand the gravity of the situation and what her and her companions’ cooperation meant. “Now, you can either help me when I get to that point, or you can let me do it on my own. Calliope has already volunteered her help wherever she is needed. I’m assuming she doesn’t have as close a relationship with Eridan as you do, however. So, your help with him would be much appreciated.” Feferi took several deep breaths to calm down as Rolanda explained herself and asked for help with the situation. Sure, she didn’t like it one bit. But… she supposed she understood where they were coming from… After all, it was something her mother did on the regular.  
  
“...Fine. I’ll help. But only to ensure you aren’t hurting him or forcing him out of it too fast.” Rolanda sighed in relief and smiled at her.  
  
“You have my promise. Now, is there anything else you can share about L.O.R.D. right now?” Feferi contemplated for a while longer.  
  
“The most I can tell you at this point is to be wary of any future teams from her. While we don’t really have the teamwork your agents do, I’m sure she’ll be cracking down on that and forcing them to get used to working together. There are still some dangerous powers in the higher up members. I’ve not seen the full extent of all of them, so I’m relatively useless with them at this moment.” Feferi met Rolanda’s eyes to show her she was being sincere in her statements. The scientist nodded and began approaching Feferi at her chair.  
  
“Thank you for answering my questions. Those are that I have for now. I appreciate your willingness to work with me, despite the fact that I threatened your loved ones. You will be taken back to your holding area while I bring out Eridan to at least gauge how much work he’ll need. I’ll inform my leader of your cooperation. Maybe you can start proving yourself tonight. We’ll have to wait to see,” Rolanda explained, undoing the chains and grabbing the one linking the cuffs, directing Feferi toward the small room she came out of.  
  
“I presume you’ll tell me how I can prove myself when you are sure of it, then? And again, remember our deal about Eridan,” she warned, pink eyes flashing malice if he were to be hurt.  
  
“You have my word, Feferi. I won’t harm him. All I’ll be doing is asking him very similar questions to you and Calliope to see if he’ll answer them. I won’t be going too in-depth tonight because of the mind control, but I’ll still be scratching the surface. As for you proving yourself, yes, I will tell you when the opportunity arises. Thank you, again, for your cooperation, Feferi. I’ll speak with you as soon as I know anything.” With that, Rolanda shut the door to the small holding area and walked back over to the recording equipment. Feferi took quite a bit of convincing. She’s been a hard nut to crack, but Rolanda had done it with Calliope’s suggestions. The Siren-like wielder was already beginning to prove herself to the scientist.  
  
While reviewing Feferi’s line of questioning, Roland wrote an email to Sage detailing the day thus far and how much information she’d already gotten out of the two girls. She also stated that she believed at least one of them ready to handle dinner with the young adults. She’d been very forthcoming with information that had yet to be proven false. The other girl was a bit harder to get information out of, but Rolanda did it. And she became more willing as time went by. She appeared to be more cooperative, so Rolanda thought it might do the two some good to be exposed to the positive nature of the young adult members. Perhaps, they would get even more information out of them if they began feeling comfortable in the facility.  
  
Finally, Rolanda felt like she had everything in order to try tackling the last member of the team they’d been brought. The scientist moved over to a holding room in the north section of the main room, opening the door only to swiftly move out of the way. Eridan had been lying in wait for her and attacked the moment the door was opened. Luckily, Rolanda was prepared for that, grabbing the chain attached to the reinforced steel mitts on Eridan’s hands that worked as a method for restraining his powers. At least, she hoped it did. As it stood, if they didn’t, he would have escaped long before now. She led him, dodging attack after attack, over to the chair and somehow managed to chain him down. He struggled against them as hard as he could for several minutes, eventually tiring himself out. His chest heaved with exertion as his nearly purple eyes bored holes into Rolanda’s skull. She stood enough out of the way to avoid being hurt but close enough to assert a certain dominance over the situation.  
  
“Eridan. My name is Rolanda. I would like to ask you some questions about-” she began, keeping her tone firm, but friendly, only to be interrupted.  
  
“Fuck you, bitch! I ain’t answerin’ any a your damned questions! You’ll have ta kill me!” It was already off to a bad start in the scientist’s mind. She barely restrained a sigh as she continued.  
  
“You WILL answer my ‘damned’ questions, Eridan. I am the one in charge in this instant. You will respect me and cooperate with me or extreme measures will be taken,” Rolanda stated with a firm voice and stance. Eridan tried launching himself at her after that, a snarl on his face. She didn’t flinch at all.  
  
“You’re just a whipped bitch for your boss. You don’t scare me,” he said, the snarl making its way into his voice as well. Rolanda held her ground.  
  
“If you so believe me to be, then I surely must be. However, if I was, then my boss would know about the methods with which I use to conduct my interrogations and my experiments. Care to test out some of these methods other than the one you are currently chained to?” Her voice was vaguely threatening as she tried to get the upperhand and show him that she meant business and was not to be messed with or underestimated. He laughed at her, however, nearly causing her to show emotion.  
  
“You? Go behind your boss’ back? There’s a snowball’s chance in hell a you doin’ that. An’ you sure as hell ain’t makin’ me talk with an attitude like that.” He held his ground just as much as Rolanda did, staying firm in his conviction. So, Rolanda did what she does best; change the atmosphere of the situation. She was nothing if not an actress as well as a scientist.  
  
“You’re right, Eridan. I hide nothing from my boss. You caught me in my bluff. I’m terribly sorry about that. Now, can you ever forgive me?” The woman made her voice small and frail, allowing her face to morph into one of slightly fearful apology. Eridan froze and evaluated her, purple eyes searching hers before laughing once more.  
  
“HA! You’re just as weak as I thought you were! God, an’ you’re supposed ta be one a the best in this facility. The best, my ASS! You’re weak. Just like the rest a your too caring ‘members’.” Perfect. Immediately, Rolanda snapped up straight and strode right over toward him with determination and intimidation emanating from her very being. It caused Eridan to actually flinch back and speak before he could stop himself. “Alright, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean ta speak out of turn, Empress.” Now, she was getting somewhere. She held her firm gaze and dropped her voice as well.  
  
“I’m not your ‘Empress’, Eridan. I am your interrogator. Now, I have several questions for you. How willing are you to answer them now?” He stayed curled into himself for a few moments more before he met her gaze again. What he saw in those pink eyes almost made him flinch away again, but he held the look.  
  
“I… I refuse. You’ll have ta kill me. I won’t say anythin’,” he said, voice significantly weaker than it had been, like he was still trying to comprehend that his ‘Empress’ wasn’t there. Rolanda searched him briefly before stepping away.  
  
“Really, Eridan. I promised Feferi I wouldn’t hurt you. Your lack of cooperation, however, is seriously testing that promise. You won’t tell me anything? Not even exactly who this ‘Empress’ is?” The scientist tried coaxing an answer out of him by mentioning his other companions. It seemed to garner a reaction at least.  
  
“You already talked ta Fef? Where the hell is she?!” he screamed, eyes wild with worry and anger. “So help me, if you hurt her-”  
  
“I never laid a hand on her. In fact, she was so well behaved, I removed her chains part way through our talk.” Eridan gaped for a moment, face returning to a snarl.  
  
“She told? She came forth about information? What a snitch! When Empress hears about this…” he trailed off, causing Rolanda to prompt him again.  
  
“Who is ‘Empress’?” she asked once more. He scoffed at her, significantly calmer than he had been not five minutes prior. Apparently, her intimidation factor worked well enough.  
  
“As if you don’t know. She’s our leader, duh! Hence, ‘Empress’ as her codename,” he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
“Yes, but _who_ is she? Outside of the codename, who is she? How did she come to found L.O.R.D.?” Rolanda prodded, hoping to get a little more out of him. He just rolled his eyes at her and sat back in the chair.  
  
“As if I actually know. No one really knows her name. Well, except those super close to her. I’ve always known her as ‘Empress,’ though, so try another question. Oh wait! I won’t answer them. Just put me back in my cell or room or whatever the shit-hole is,” he said, not looking at Rolanda anymore. The scientist considered her options; put him back in his room and not get anything else out of him for sure or try coaxing more out of him and risk still not getting anything or potentially pissing him off too much. She glanced at her watch and sighed under her breath.  
  
“Very well, Eridan. You win this round. I will escort you back to your room. We will resume in the morning.” With that, Rolanda made her way over to him, making sure to hold her ground well enough to grab the chain and unhook him from the chair. He did try to attack, but she dodged once more and delivered a swift chop to Eridan’s neck, effectively knocking him out. She picked him up and dragged him over to his room, gently putting him back in there and making a mental note to get security to move him to a slightly bigger and better reinforced room.  
  
Once the interrogation with Eridan finished up, Rolanda moved back into her office space and called Sage to give him the update.  
  
“Hey there, Sage,” she started, voice weary from the stress of all the questions and deals struck.  
  
“How did Day 1 of interrogation go?” he questioned through the line. Rolanda pinched the bridge of her nose to ward off a potential headache that was starting to form.  
  
“Well, as you read in the emails, Calliope and Feferi were relatively forthcoming with information. Eridan, however, proved difficult. He’s going to take a LOT more time. Although, intimidation does work on him to an extent. He’s just very tight-lipped. Not to mention, he’s been brainwashed. At least, that’s what Feferi and Calliope both told me. They’re both fine, but Eridan’s thoughts aren’t his own. They are the leader of the organization L.O.R.D.’s thoughts that she forced upon him. He’s since gotten used to them and believes them to be his own, from what I’ve seen,” she detailed. “I’m going to need to break that mind control in order to get anything out of him and to even begin getting him ready for societal reintroduction.” Sage was quiet on the other line for a spell, speaking again only after he’d fully comprehended everything.  
  
“So, you’re telling me that Eridan has been completely and totally brainwashed by this group?”  
  
“Yessir, I am. He seems so normal, like there’s nothing wrong with him, but Feferi told me she watched him be mind controlled when they were younger. Apparently, everyone her mother controls starts off fighting, but eventually, she kills the will to do that, and the victim accepts it, believing the forced thoughts to have been theirs all along,” Rolanda explained. On the other line, a sigh was heard.  
  
“Very well. Are you sure you can accomplish that without him frying his own emotions as he comes to terms with everything he’s probably done under mind control? I’d rather not let someone like him die for a reason we could have prevented,” he stated, voice laced with concern.  
  
“I’m unsure at this point, Sir. All I know is that I have an intimidation factor I can use at least for now. I can speak further with Feferi and Calliope to see what will help break him of the control. They both offered, anyway.”  
  
“I wouldn’t mind you at least talking with them about the possibility. Speaking of which, you say both of them were extremely cooperative with you today?”  
  
“I will do that then, sir. And yes, they both were. Calliope even thanked us for saving her. They have both expressed interest in helping us out.” On the side of the receiver, Sage was nodding.  
  
“Would you trust them insofar as to allow them to attend dinner tonight? Do you believe it would be wise or a good idea?” he questioned, wanting a second opinion on the decision. Rolanda paused for a moment, then choosing to answer.  
  
“I believe dinner would be a good beginning test for them. They could get acclimated to the other wielders and begin making new friends and memories. And it would prove to us that they can handle other types of people within our organization,” she said, expressing her thoughts and opinions about everything. Rolanda honestly did believe it to be a great idea and wanted that as well.  
  
“Very well then. Calliope and Feferi shall be allowed to attend dinner tonight with the other young adults. Now, was there anything else you needed to share with me, Rolanda?”  
  
“No, sir. I will let you know if anything pops up.” The two exchanged proper goodbyes and hung up, Rolanda retreating to the main room the in which Calliope and Feferi were still locked up. She opened the door to Calliope’s room, noting the other hadn’t really moved since she’d shut her in there after the questioning.  
  
“Calliope? It’s me, Rolanda.” The girl turned her head to meet Rolanda’s eyes and offered a sweet smile.  
  
“Yes, Rolanda? Have you heard word on how I may begin to prove myself?” The scientist still wasn’t fully sure the girl was to be trusted, but it was worth a try at the very least.  
  
“I’ve spoken with my superior about everything that’s taken place down here today. He’s decided that, based on yours and Feferi’s behaviors, that you two will be allowed to partake in dinner with the other young adult wielders, including those that took you down. Is that amenable to you?” she questioned, still standing at the door to the little room in case she was asked to or needed to leave quickly. Calliope considered for a moment and then stood, walking over to stand in front of Rolanda.  
  
“I would be delighted to partake in the breaking of bread with the others. I’d very much like to actually meet them. So, if you’ll allow me, I will join. Is it now? I’m positively famished as well,” she said, her stomach making it a point to rumble loudly to punctuate the statement. Rolanda couldn’t help but to smile and shake her head a little. Calliope was definitely still a child at heart, that much she could tell.  
  
“Of course, Calliope. Come with me. We need to get Feferi out and then make our way upstairs.” With that, the scientist turned to walk away, leaving the room open with Calliope following behind her to the opposite side of the room where Feferi’s room laid. Rolanda repeated the same procedure, standing in Feferi’s door and offering her the same deal.  
  
“My boss says, based on your behavior today, you are allowed to join the other young adults for dinner if you wish. Calliope will be there,” she said, hoping the life wielder would come with her. Feferi met her eye and then looked past her at Calliope. The siren nodded and smiled, Feferi looking back at Rolanda.  
  
“Fin. As long as Callie is there, I’ll go as whale,” she said, throwing in the occasional sea-related pun which was not lost on Rolanda.  
  
“Shore she whale be. You won’t be there abalone, Feferi,” Rolanda said, winking at the girl who seemed to brighten slightly at the use of puns. Feferi stood and walked over to the two of them, moving beside Calliope but looking at Rolanda.  
  
“You use fish-puns, too?”  
  
“Sometimes. It makes life fun to use puns every now and again, doesn’t it?” Rolanda winked again at Feferi and turned to lead the two girls up to the dinner that was surely in full swing at that point. She only hoped everyone at least gave them a fighting chance. Those in the facility were taught that judgment will get them nowhere, but that they were right to be cautious of new things, despite having to try them.  
  
After a several minute walk up a few flights of stairs and through a multitude of doors, Rolanda reached the dining room. Behind the doors were raucous shouts and laughter as well as idle chatter. She turned to the two girls following her.  
  
“Alright, here we are. Forewarning, things might be a little tense because of the circumstances, but give them a chance and they’ll give you one as well. That’s how it works here, or at least, how it’s supposed to, ok?” The girls nodded, glancing at one another briefly and straightening up. They both wanted to make a decent first impression and did not want to be seen as weak. Rolanda opened up the door, all chatter and shouts immediately ceasing as several pairs of eyes turned to the door.  
  
“Hello all! I have some guests for you! Meet Calliope and Feferi. They were extremely cooperative with me and have expressed interest in helping us out. Therefore, they have been allowed to join you all for dinner. Please treat them nicely, everyone!” Rolanda moved behind the two girls and gently pushed them forward, exiting the room and shutting the door behind her. The room stayed absolutely silent as the young adults sized them up. It wasn’t until the door opened up one more time behind them that anything happened.  
  
“Surprise, guys! It is I! John Eg...bert… hey! It’s you two! Oh my god, how are you?!” John started talking before quickly noticing Calliope and Feferi and turning his attention to them. He went right up to the two of them and wrapped his arms around each of them, giving them tight hugs and letting them go. It left them both a little dumbfounded.  
  
“Dude, you scared them. What have I told you about that?” Dave walked in not too far behind John. The air wielder just shrugged and turned his attention back to the girls.  
  
“Oh no! He didn’t scare us. He simply surprised us with his perky welcome. It was most appreciated, however,” Calliope rushed to get out, holding up her hands. Feferi nodded and spoke up as well.  
  
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a hug like that. It was… nice. Thank you… John, was it?” She blinked at him, pink eyes big in wonder. John stuck out his tongue at Dave and turned back to them.  
  
“Of course! No problem. And yeah, my name is John. John Egbert. I have aerokinesis. And who exactly are you two? I know one of you sings and one of you can steal life with a touch, but who’s who?” Everyone else in the dining room watched on, unsure of what to do.  
  
“I am Calliope English. I am a wielder with muse-like or siren-like abilities. It is a pleasure to meet you, John. You are incredibly strong. I’ve never met an air wielder with quite that much control and precision,” she complimented.  
  
“Awwww shucks! Thank you, Calliope! That was so nice. And you?” He turned to Feferi next, who slightly cowered before standing herself upright and rolling her shoulders back.  
  
“I’m Feferi Peixes. I’m a life wielder. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She looked over to see Rose and Kanaya, choosing to address them. “Your respective abilities are an almost perfect pairing. No one has ever been able to keep me at bay so well and so long. You impressed me thoroughly,” she said, a bit over-formal but preferring that until she got used to the others. Rose and Kanaya looked at one another for a moment before directing small smiles to Feferi.  
  
“Thank you very much, Feferi. No one has ever complimented our teamwork such as you have before. I must say, it is quite delightful to hear on occasion, wouldn’t you agree, Rose?” asked Kanaya. Rose nodded.  
  
“Yes, it is highly welcomed and duly acknowledged. We appreciate the compliment. You aren’t so bad yourself, Feferi. When you cannot reach someone to touch them, your physical prowess is nigh unmatched. You, admittedly, wore the two of us down quite heavily during our battle,” she added to Kanaya’s statement, watching Feferi relax slightly. It wasn’t highly visible, only if one was looking, but she relaxed. At least three people seemed willing to accept her.  
  
“I’ve had extensive training. I was raised that way. I can dolphinately handle my own.” She clapped a hand over her mouth as the pun slipped out. “Oops! I’m sorry. I meant ‘definitely’, not dolphinately. I apologize.” Her slight embarrassment, however, was just enough to finally help break the ice. A few people chuckled at the table from the pun and her actions. John smiled widely at both girls.  
  
“Well, don’t just stand there! Sit, sit! Join us and eat! I’m sure you two are starving, right? I know I sure as hell am,” he laughed, causing a few more people at the table to join in as he directed Feferi and Calliope to open seats near his usual one.  
  
“After the HUGE breakfast this morning?! How can you even still move, John?” asked Jade in disbelief. “I saw that cart! It had plates stacked so high that I’m sure were absolutely full to the brim with food. How the HELL can you even still eat?”  
  
“He can fucking eat because he’s a goddamned bottomless pit, Jade. It’s like all the food he ever eats just phases right through him, and it’s annoying as fuck because _some_ of us can’t eat like that unless we want to weigh as much as a house,” said Karkat, glaring at John who was already loading up his plate and shoveling food into his mouth. He just grinned at the grumpy wielder and swallowed.  
  
“I have a high metabolism, Karkat! You know that. It comes with my super strength. The only person who was ever able to keep up with my eating was Jake before he disappeared,” he said. Had it been any closer to the disappearance, Jade would have thrown something at him. As it was, she laughed.  
  
“Oh my god! Remember the eating contests you two had? You like, cleaned out the entire kitchen that one time! You two with your super strength and out of control metabolisms. Seriously.” At the mention of super strength connected to a Jake, Feferi and Calliope looked at each other, slightly uneasy. They quickly looked away and resumed eating. The shared look didn’t go unnoticed, however. The facility head’s son, Tavros caught it. As did Roxy and Dirk. Dirk had been watching the two like a hawk since they were brought in. He didn’t trust them but knew he couldn’t say it for fear of others jumping down his throat about it.  
  
“So, Calliope, Feferi. Tell us about yourselves,” prompted Roxy. She took a sip from the drink in front of her as she addressed the two of them.  
  
“Oh. Well… what all do you wish to know about us? I’m sure Rolanda could tell you about some of the things we shared with her…” Being put on the spot like that made Calliope nervous.  
  
“What are your fave colors? What are your hobbies? Can you tell us more about your powers? Those sorta things!” elaborated Roxy, raising her glass too fast and sloshing some of the liquid out onto the floor.  
  
“Well, in that case, my favorite color would be green. Like, almost a lime green. I don’t really have too many hobbies. We weren’t really allowed to have them. Although, I do suppose I enjoy writing and creating stories. As for my powers, I have a very siren-esque ability. I can fog a person’s mind with the sound of my singing voice. I’d like to believe that I’m pretty strong with it, but I don’t know for sure. After all, I can only see the results. I’ve never been able to use it on myself, you know.” Her last bit made several of the others at the table chuckle at the truth of that. Calliope felt herself relaxing more and even cracking a small smile.  
  
“As for me, I love the color fuchsia. My hobbies are simply studying up on sea-life. I love all of it. I don’t know if you could tell from my accidental pun earlier, but I love water and anything to do with it. That was another reason I quite enjoyed the fight between us.” Feferi directed the last part toward Rose who nodded in acknowledgment and raised a glass in cheers, taking a sip. “Other than that, I’ve not really had much time for other hobbies. I was always training either my powers or my body. My powers deal with life forces. I can take away life force and restore life force, little by little and all at once. Unfortunately, or I guess fortunately for some people, I can only do it when I am close enough to touch someone. I haven’t quite figured out how to do it from a distance, yet.” Fefer shrugged and continued eating the crab leg on her plate.  
  
“I’ll say it’s a damned good thing you haven’t figured it out. Or we would have been screwed harder and faster than a whore on a Saturday night,” said Karkat without really thinking his phrasing through. It earned him a swift clip upside the head from Jade.  
  
“Karkat, do you have to be so vulgar? Jesus, you are such a FUCKASS! Not to mention, that was super offensive!” Before Jade could really start in on her tirade, Karkat held up a hand.  
  
“Alright, alright. Jesus. I’m sorry. Whores are cool. I didn’t mean to insult them or whatever. Just don’t hit me again, crazy fucking bitch.” Jade humphed at him and turned back to her food.  
  
“Karkles! Don’t call her a bitch! You know that’s not nice,” piped in Terezi, shit-eating grin present, as usual, on her face. She flung a small spoonful of peas right at him, nailing him in the head, causing the entire table to laugh or chuckle.  
  
“Eat taters!” he screamed, filling his spoon and launching the food at the red-head. She managed to move just right to catch the food in her mouth, infuriating Karkat. Calliope and Feferi, at first startled, settled down after that and joined in the laughing with everyone else. It was when Tavros spoke up in his small, nervous sounding voice.  
  
“So can you tell us anything about your former organization? Or are you sworn to secrecy? Personally, I won’t feel comfortable around you two unless I get some information out of you,” he said, surprising everyone not only with his direct attitude but also with how harsh the statement was.  
  
“We are from L.O.R.D. or League of Royal Demons, as Empress likes to call it,” said Calliope. She set down her fork and sat back in her chair, hands in her lap, addressing the whole table. Feferi followed suit after wiping her mouth and taking a drink of water.  
  
“L.O.R.D. was founded by my mother who was sick and tired of having to hide her powers because of common folk being afraid of what she could do. She figured, if they were already afraid, why not make them submit, too? So she started gathering up those with powers who felt the same way she did. Within a few short years, she’d built up L.O.R.D. I was about 5 by the time it was fully functioning,” Feferi explained. Taking another sip of water, she continued.  
  
“We have numerous members, most not terribly dangerous as you’ve already encountered. Before you ask, most of the people you’ve apprehended the last few years have been from our organization. Mom sent them out to try to start building our name and get us more money, but obviously, they failed spectacularly. So, she finally decided enough was enough. It was time to send out the big guns. So Callie, Eridan, and I got sent out. There are about 20 others aside from us that are considered the strongest in the organization. And that includes Mom as well as Callie’s brother.”  
  
“What sort of powers do you all have?” asked Terezi, attention focused for once. Calliope took over on that one.  
  
“We have a myriad from element wielders to strength wielders to ability thieves to mind control, psionics, and, obviously, life, plasma, and song control. There’s more, but I don’t want to overwhelm you right now.” Everyone stared at the blonde stranger as they considered what she’d said. There were so many abilities there….Granted, they all had a very diverse amount of abilities but still. It was nerve wracking.  
  
“So what should we expect from the next team they send out?” questioned Nepeta, surprising everyone with her seriousness. Calliope and Feferi looked at each other and then addressed the table.  
  
“Honestly? We aren’t entirely sure either. But you can be sure they’ll be strong. Mom isn’t fooling around anymore, from what I’m guessing. After all, you guys nabbed me. As much as she isn’t really matronly or maternal, she is still protective of her own and won’t take kindly to this. There are still a few wielders I’m hoping and praying she’ll keep away from the outside. I’m hoping the most you have to deal with is mind control, super strength, and psionics. Those are the least dangerous, aren’t they, Callie?” Calliope nodded and expanded on that.  
  
“There is one wielder who has exceptional luck as well as mind control. Be exceptionally careful around her. She is a master of her skills while only being our age. There are a couple wielders with super strength, one of them seems completely unlimited. He’s very dangerous. He can’t even wield a normal weapon without breaking it. He has to rely entirely on his strength. One wielder has psionics. Like, legitimate psionics. It’s much stronger than a simple telekinesis and about on par with your electrokinesis,” Calliope stated, addressing Dirk directly with the end part. “There is still one more wielder with life powers very similar to Feferi’s here.” Feferi picked up.  
  
“One you better hope never makes it out to fight is a rager. He induces rage in other people, occasionally himself, and they won’t stop until there’s a mess of blood on their hands. It’s a terrifying ability, especially since he’s normally a relaxed guy, but when he does get mad, he goes berserk, essentially.” Feferi shuddered in fear just thinking about it. “Anyway, those are the big ones aside from our bosses.” The entire table was silent for a while, mulling over the information they were given.  
  
“So, your organization likes gathering the really dangerous powers, right?” asked John in a light tone. Calliope answered him.  
  
“Yes, it does. Unfortunately, when they rebel, they are either mind controlled or killed.” Everyone looked at one another in surprise.  
  
“How many of your members are mind controlled?” asked Tavros.  
  
“About 75% at the minimum,” answered Calliope.  
  
“So, who’s to say you two aren’t mind controlled as well?” inquired Rose. Feferi shrugged.  
  
“You only have our word that we aren’t. Eridan is, so Rolanda needs to break him out of it, but we aren’t,” said Feferi, trying not to let the Eridan thing get to her.  
  
“Actually, I can’t be mind controlled. As a person who can cloud another’s mind, my own is safe from intrusion.” Calliope’s statement was met with dead silence. Everyone looked toward Nepeta who blinked.  
  
“Does that mean Nepeta is safe from mind control?” Kanaya asked.  
  
“It depends on her ability,” stated Calliope.  
  
“I can manipulate emotions.” Nepeta spoke up. Calliope considered for a moment before nodding.  
  
“Yes, I believe she would be safe from the mind control. After all, emotions are part of the mind. So, in theory, she should be protected from mind invasion. Are there any others here who have mind-esque abilities?” she asked, looking around the table. Most people shook their heads. She frowned and shared a look with Feferi. “That is quite troubling… However, it’s still alright. It is something that can be worked around.” Feferi nodded.  
  
“Yes, it is something that we can help you guys with. We have a better idea of what to expect and what to do to counteract it without fully preventing it.” The wielders at the table glanced around at one another, nervous about the prospect of being mind controlled. They’d never run into other wielders with those powers. No one in the facility had them. The only one seemingly unaffected was John who was shoveling food into his mouth. After clearing his plate, he decided to speak up.  
  
“Come on, guys! Cheer up. We have two people who are immune. That should be enough to get us through, right? We can handle anything those baddies throw at us! No offense to you two,” he quickly tacked on the end, realizing they were formerly ‘baddies,’ and not wanting to hurt them with his words. His enthusiasm took Feferi and Calliope by surprise, the latter finding herself laughing at his words.  
  
“No offense taken, John. You really are too trusting, though,” she pointed out. She didn’t want to say much more than that for fear of getting on people’s bad sides, but she felt it was implied either way. Dave snorted and resumed eating.  
  
“Leave it to John to get even the newbies to say he’s too trusting. Even if I agree with him that we can handle it. We’ve dealt with you guys. How much worse will this mind control be?” Feferi frowned.  
  
“It’s fine to be confident, but don’t get cocky. Vriska’s mind control is second to none. She’s damned good and knows exactly how to get what she wants. Just be cautious, ok?” she warned. The rest of the table remained fairly quiet until Tavros stood and dismissed himself.  
  
“I’m going to go continue training. If anyone wants to come with, feel free to.” With that, the brunet walked out of the room. Terezi sighed loudly and dramatically.  
  
“I guess I’ll go with him to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself. See you losers later!” She saluted everyone and skipped out the door, following after Tavros. With Tavros out of the room, some of the tension left. People felt a little more at ease with the strangers at the table.  
  
“So, are you two staying in normal rooms or do they still have you in the basement for now?” asked Roxy. Almost on cue, Rolanda strolled back into the dining room.  
  
“Calliope? Feferi? It’s time to head back to your rooms.” Roxy’s eyebrows raised.  
  
“Well, that answers that question.” She turned back to the girls and beamed a smile at them. “It was super nice to meet you two! I look forward to working with you more, as I’m shore we whale!” The blonde threw in the fish puns with a wink for Feferi. Said girl smiled back at Roxy and stood, Calliope close behind, as they followed Rolanda out of the room and back to their cells. Back in the dining room, Dirk finally spoke up.  
  
“I don’t trust them. I’m not sure how genuine they are.” Roxy smacked his arm.  
  
“Oh hush, party pooper. If they weren’t trustworthy, would Sage have let Mom bring them up with us?” Dirk shook his head.  
  
“You don’t get it. They’re probably really good actresses. It’s not all that hard to fool your mom, actually, Roxy. Nor is it hard to fool Sage. You have to be really shitty at acting to do that.” At the last bit, Rose spoke up before Roxy could.  
  
“Our mother is far smarter and far more observant than you are giving her credit for, Dirk. And quite frankly, I’m more than a little offended that you think so lowly of her and our head of operations. You’ve always been too judgemental. Learn to trust a little, Dirk. No one here is out to get you,” she said curtly with a hint of venom. Kanaya placed a hand on her shoulder in a calming gesture. Before anyone could say anything else, Nepeta took a turn to speak.  
  
“You all know I can feel emotions. They were being sincere. Either their act goes down to the core or they really were sincere. They wanted to be helpful. They were anxious we wouldn’t like them. Give them a chance, people,” she said, green eyes blazing. John piped up next.  
  
“Yeah, guys! True, they used to be enemies and took out some of our members, but that was only because they had no choice if they wanted to survive. Wouldn’t you do the same?” Dirk looked pointedly at John.  
  
“Not on my life. I’d kill myself before letting myself do evil for shit people like that. I have morals, John. Obviously, they don’t. Grow the fuck up and see the world without rose-tinted glasses for once.”  
  
“Dirk. Knock it off,” said Dave, voice hard. The two brothers looked at each other.  
  
“No, Dave. John needs to learn how the world really works. The only thing I trust and agree with that was said by those two was that he is too trusting.”  
  
“It beats having a stick shoved up his ass, fueling him with paranoia any day! And this isn’t even about John, Dirk. This is about those two girls. Give them a fucking chance. Not everyone is confident enough in their abilities to commit suicide if their morals are threatened like you are. I’m heading back to my room, John. When you’re done, feel free to come on in.” With that, Dave stood up, shoved his hands in his pockets, and walked out of the room, not giving anyone a second glance. Everyone just stared at Dirk for a brief moment before he, too, stood and walked out of the room. John sighed.  
  
“Well, that was an eventful dinner. I mean, I’m not saying I fully trust them. I don’t. But I’m at least willing to give them a chance. Aren’t you guys? We all had to give each other chances at one point or another, didn’t we?” Everyone nodded, Jade speaking up.  
  
“I definitely want to give them a chance! They seem super sweet and nice. I’m willing to learn to work with them and give them the benefit of the doubt.” The rest of the people left in the room nodded in agreement.  
  
“Then, it’s settled. We’ll all give Calliope and Feferi a chance. Now, I need to go check on a stoic asshole and calm him down. If you all will excuse me,” John said as he rose from his seat and marched out of the room toward Dave’s. Without knocking, he walked in to find the blond on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, shades still on. John went over to the bed and sat on the edge, looking over at his friend.  
  
“Hey. What got you so upset in there?”  
  
“Dirk’s an asshole. He had no right talking to and about you like that,” was the simple answer the air manipulator received. He just sighed and repositioned himself to lay down next to Dave.  
  
“Scoot over, bed-hog. Anyway, it’s fine. I didn’t take any offense to it at all, ok? He was allowed to say what he wanted. I know I trust too easily. It’s just who I am. I believe in the good in everyone. It’s when I’m double-crossed more than twice that I stop trusting someone. I just… I know we fought those two girls and that guy. Obviously, the guy needs more work before he can be introduced and that’s fine. The two girls are trustworthy enough to have been introduced to us tonight. That’s why I welcomed them. Dirk and I are very different in that aspect. I trust what my supervisors trust whereas he needs to see or hear it himself to believe it.” Dave shook his head.  
  
“It’s not even that. It had to do with Bro, dude. He took out his lack of trust and paranoia on you even though it is Bro’s fault he’s like that. It’s not fair to you. He had no right doing that,” he explained. John rolled onto his side and propped up his head on an arm.  
  
“Dave. It’s fine. Dirk has his past. If he takes it out on me, so what? I really don’t take any offense to it. I’m totally chill. It’s his prerogative to do that, so who am I to stop him when it really doesn’t affect me, nor is it really even about me?” Dave rolled his head to look at John.  
  
“You really are too nice for your own good, dude.” John laughed.  
  
“Yeah, I know. But that’s what makes me, me, isn’t it?”  
  
“You’re right. I don’t know what I’d do if you were mean or evil or not so naive or anything. You’re like a teddy bear as you are. Speaking of teddy bears, you owe me bro cuddles for getting angry on your behalf for no reason.” John just shook his head and opened up his arms, the smaller of the two snuggling right up to him.  
  
“Just remember, Dave. No homo.”  
  
“Yeah, yeah. No homo. Whatever. Just cuddle me, man.”


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters just stay long, don't they? xD Well, I have a lot to still get through. Things are starting to heat up little by little though as info was revealed in this chapter that may have been hinted at earlier but never confirmed until now. Enjoy!

Several days passed as the group got used to having Calliope and Feferi around every so often. They were at the table for every dinner and occasionally showed up for training with various groups to get them into the swing of how the facility worked. Everyone in the young adult group was amiable toward them with the exception of Dirk and Tavros. The animal communicator was still very wary of the two girls and avoided them whenever he could. At dinner, he alternated between watching them with a hawk-eye and ignoring their presence altogether. The latter was what Dirk did all the time. He just ignored them, pretended they weren’t there. Even when they were brought in to his training room, he acted as if nothing had changed. He refused to work with them or even acknowledge them. He was also avoiding Dave and John.  
  
About a week after the girls were first introduced, they were finally brought into a group that John was working with. He’d just finished using the air to slice up a few dummies when they walked in. Upon seeing them, the boy happily flew over to them.  
  
“Hey there! I can’t believe you’re in my group today! This is going to be fun!” he said, grabbing their hands and pulling them further into the room away from Rolanda. The other members of that day’s group were Roxy, Terezi, Karkat, Nepeta, and Rose. The other five acknowledge the two girls and returned to their instructor.  
  
“I apologize, Sophie, for bringing them in unannounced like this, but I figured it was time to start putting them with some of the people they’d initially fought against. Let them get used to those powers in a different manner now, right?” The instructor smiled at Rolanda.  
  
“Of course. Now, you two. Stand in line. We’ve already shown off our powers, but can you state yours and demonstrate them for us? I’m not familiar with them at all even if some of them are.” Her blue eyes looked directly at Calliope, who was standing next in line to John. The blonde smiled.  
  
“This actually will be a perfect opportunity to test out a theory we discussed a few nights ago. I have siren-like abilities, fogging the mind with an alluring melody.” She stepped forward and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and opening her mouth. The most beautiful sound came forth from her throat. Notes gliding and sliding entranced all in the room. All but Nepeta. She blinked and watched everyone fall into a trance-like state. Calliope opened her eyes, still singing and saw that her song wasn’t affecting Nepeta and smiled at her, ceasing her music. A few moments after the melody stopped, everyone started coming out of their reverie.  
  
“That was impressive, Miss…”  
  
“Ah! I’ve been remiss in stating my name. I’m Calliope.” Sophie nodded.  
  
“Miss Calliope, then. That was impressive. And what theory was it that you tested? What were the results?” Calliope looked right at Nepeta.  
  
“Those with mind-altering abilities are unaffected by others’ mind-altering abilities. Nepeta here was fully cognizant throughout my song. She had full control over herself. I didn’t affect her whatsoever,” she said, smiling at the other girl. Sophie looked between the two girls with an astonished expression.  
  
“So you were right, Calliope. This bodes well for what we can do to prepare for L.O.R.D.’s next attack,” stated Rolanda, still in the doorway. Next, she addressed the instructor. “Again, I apologize for staying, Sophie. I just wanted to see what would happen as well. I’ll take my leave now and return for the girls at the end of training.” With that, the scientist strode out of the room. The instructor then looked to Feferi.  
  
“You’re next, Miss.”  
  
“I’m Feferi! I have life manipulation powers. I can take and give in small bouts or all at once. There’s only so much I can do to demonstrate it. I do need a volunteer, though.” She glanced at John, just getting the feeling that he would volunteer when she was surprised.  
  
“I’ll volunteer.” Rose stepped forward, a small smile on her black lips. John’s head whirled to stare at her in shock.  
  
“Are you sure, Rose? I can do it. You don’t have to volunteer,” he said, never having expected someone like the youngest Lalonde to have put herself in danger’s way like that.  
  
“Relax, John. What better way to show that I’m willing to give people a chance than to put my life, literally, in their hands?” She chuckled a bit at the end to show that she wasn’t nervous. The blonde moved toward Feferi, standing right in front of her. “Well? Let’s feel this power of yours, Feferi. May the divinities that be look over us with compassion and glee at the toying of the life force.” Rose took a deep breath and relaxed completely, holding out her hand to Feferi in a sign of trust. Feferi took the proffered hand and concentrated.  
  
Rose could feel her body weakening. It was getting harder to breathe. Her joints hurt. It was hard to even hold herself up properly. It was as if the weight of the world were causing her shoulders to stoop. Then, the next moment, she felt stronger than ever. She felt at the pique of her life, perfect health, perfect condition. It was exhilarating. She’d never felt better. It felt as though nothing could tear her down. She felt invincible. Not too long after, the feeling returned to how she felt before touching Feferi.  
  
“Interesting. That was quite the experience, Feferi. I must say, I do hope I’m killed before allowing myself to grow that old. I do not find myself appreciating the aching joints or the feeling of the weight of the world on my shoulders. Unless, you can perpetually keep me in pique condition,” she chuckled. “Regardless, that was an interesting expression of power. It seems highly useful, if a bit inconvenient that you need to be touching someone to put it to use.” Feferi nodded and offered her own smile.  
  
“I’ve been trying to figure out a way to work with it without touch, but I haven’t quite figured it out yet. All I really know is that, occasionally, when I get angry or overly excited, my power extends out just the slightest bit. I can’t control it at all, though. Thank you for volunteering and trusting me.” Rose nodded to the black-haired girl.  
  
“Of course, Feferi. It was a one-of-a-kind experience that I am glad to have been a part of. If you are restoring or adding to my life, I would not mind feeling it again.” Before more words could be exchanged, Sophie stepped forward.  
  
“Alright, enough. Thank you two for demonstrating your powers. Now, since all 8 of you are here for team training, let’s figure out how to utilize each of your skills in a variety of situations.” Calliope raised her hand. Sophie nodded to her.  
  
“I apologize, Sophie. However, Feferi and I only know of the powers of three of the members in this room. I know what powers Nepeta holds, but have never seen them, nor do I know anything of Roxy and Terezi’s powers. Feferi doesn’t either.” Sophie sighed and looked at the three in question.  
  
“Well, girls. Demonstrate your powers again for the latecomers. I really need to talk to Rolanda about giving me a heads up before she brings people in…” Roxy stepped forward.  
  
“I’ll go first! And don’t worry, Soph. I’ll make this quick!” Her cheery personality caused her voice to squeak a little as she spoke. The eldest blonde turned to face Calliope and Feferi.  
  
“Alright you two. Pay close attention. I am a technokinetic haxor babe. I can control aaaaall sorts of technology, from the most simple to extremely complex. The lights? I got ‘em.” As she said that, with a wink, the lights shut out then flickered in a pattern resembling the beat in a song. Finally, she brought them back up.  
  
“Next, Sophie’s walkie talkie.” She glanced over at the instructor’s technology and caused it to take itself apart in mid-air, using the pieces of it to become weapons, flinging them at the dummies and lodging them in the foam of the faux bodies. Roxy then commanded them to put themselves back together into a fully functioning like-it-never-happened walkie talkie.  
  
“Something more complex,” she said, looking around the room for something and spotting the instructor’s phone and watch. Roxy raised her hands and used them to direct the pieces of technology to disassemble. She demonstrated using them as weapons on the dummies, then proceeded to ‘put them back together’. By that, she mixed the parts to make her own technologic hybrid that looked vaguely steampunk. What exactly it did, no one knew, but both pieces of equipment still operated. Roxy then disassembled the creation and returned the items to their former designs and lowered her hands. Afterward, she took a bow and made her way back to the line.  
  
“Excellent job as usual, Roxy. My phone works just as it should as does my watch. You actually fixed an issue I’d been having with it for a little while anyway,” commented Sophie, receiving a smile.  
  
“No probs, Soph! It was totes easy peasy. And your battery was just loose. No biggie.” The instructor then looked to Terezi, who was next in line.  
  
“Terezi, it’s your turn to show off your powers.” And like that, a shit-eating grin spread over the red-head’s face. She moved to the front.  
  
“As you know, I’m Terezi. I have enhanced senses, first of all. But my main thing is called Enhanced Synesthesia. Basically, that means I can see sound waves as light. I can then use them to project concussive blasts. Like this.” The ginger turned away from the group and focused her attention on sound coming from the fans in the room. The sounds traveled toward her in a ray of light. She then took a deep breath and cupped her hands around her mouth, giving a small grunt. Next thing anyone knew, the dummy across the room from her exploded. She turned toward the obstacle course wall in the corner of the room and threw her voice toward it, similar to echolocation. To her, the sound waves lightly bounced off the structure back toward her. From there, she cupped her mouth with her hands and gave a small shriek. The wall across the way cracked and then shattered into an almost fine powder. She straightened herself up and turned back toward the group.  
  
“So there you have it! My excellent powers. I can be defensive when I need to be due to my enhanced senses, but I’m mostly an offensive player here.” With that, Terezi returned to her place in line. Nepeta stepped forward.  
  
“Your powers are always so scary, ‘Rezi. I always get worried you’ll accidentally set off one of your blasts while just in normal conversation and that it’ll make me explode. I know it’s an irrational fear, but I still have it.” She then turned toward Calliope and Feferi. “Now, you two know that I can manipulate emotions. What I need from you is one of you or both of you to volunteer so I can show you what I mean by that.” Both the girls stepped forward.  
  
“It appears that we both volunteer. I must say that I find the concept interesting. Technically, your power is a mind-altering one. But let us see if it affects me,” said Calliope, giving the cat-lover a smile. Nepeta returned it and first looked at Feferi. She concentrated ever so slightly.  
  
Feferi began crying, feeling overwhelming sadness. They were loud, guttural cries, too. Nepeta directed her attention to Calliope, willing the same change onto the Siren. Calliope just continued looking at Nepeta. She felt a pang of sadness gnaw at her gut, but it was nothing to get emotional over. The small girl nodded and turned her attention back to Feferi. She immediately stopped crying and turned to being fidgety. Her eyes swept across the room quickly and frequently. She glanced behind her multiple times. Her breath quickened as her heart raced. The paranoia there was taking her over. Nepeta’s eyes met Calliope’s as she willed the other to feel the full force paranoia she was making Feferi feel. The most Calliope felt was a slight increase in her heart rate. But there was nothing more that that. The cat-lover turned back to Feferi with a small smirk. The taller girl ceased her shifting eyes and dropped to the ground doubled over with laughter. She clutched her gut and laughed so loudly, Terezi actually flinched a bit due to her enhanced hearing. John couldn’t help but laugh along with her, loving seeing Feferi like that and hoping that one day she’d be able to be like that without Nepeta’s influence. Meanwhile, the manipulator turned toward Calliope, once more willing her to feel the laughter… Nothing. Calliope managed to keep a completely straight face. While internally, she did find Feferi’s laugh lovely and amusing, she did not even chuckle once in the face of it all.  
  
“Well, I’d venture a guess that my powers, indeed, do not work on you, Calliope. You are an impenetrable force when it comes to mind powers,” Nepeta complemented, releasing her hold on Feferi and allowing the girl to return to her previous emotional capacity.  
  
“I would say so. However, watching your powers in action was quite thrilling, I must say. You have such a mastery over them, you instilled each emotion flawlessly and with a relatively quick speed. It was fun watching you change Feferi’s emotions so quickly. That’s the most I’ve ever seen her go through, so I feel I must commend you on a job well done. As for me, I felt slight twinges of what you were trying to convey unto me, but obviously, it didn’t get must further than that,” stated Calliope. Nepeta nodded and gave the other green-eyed girl a beaming smile.  
  
“Well, now you know your theory is right! And I know some more limitations with my power, so it’s a win-win, right?” Everyone cracked smiles at Nepeta’s excited nature as she moved back to her place in line. The instructor took her place in front of them once more.  
  
“Alright. Now that everyone is more acquainted with one another’s powers, let’s begin, shall we? Situation one: You have a team in front of you consisting of an earth manipulator, an electricity manipulator, a foe with super strength, and one with mind control. What do you do? How do you handle it? Take it away,” said Sophie, letting the young adults in front of her deduce the best method of tackling the problem. They considered the situation for a moment, picturing it and what path each would take.  
  
“Battling mind control with mind-altering abilities would prove futile. However, we can’t just focus on the non-mind wielders,” pondered Feferi aloud. From there, John snapped his fingers.  
  
“I’ve got it! Thank you for that beginning insight, Feferi,” he said, directing the last bit to the life wielder. He cleared his throat and continued his thoughts. “Alright. So if each side has a mind-altering user, pit them against each other. Use ours to tie up theirs, so to speak. While their abilities won’t work on each other, there are other methods of taking down that particular foe. Find them, use them, but it’s best if our mind users do that so as to prevent anyone else from being targeted. From there, Feferi, you should give life-strength or whatever it is to Roxy, Rose, Terezi, Karkat, and myself to help us take down the other 3 users. Rose, you and Karkat take the earth manipulator. Terezi, you and Roxy take on the electricity manipulator. I’ll take on the one with the super strength since I’m about the only one who can.” The instructor just shook her head in amusement.  
  
“Very good, John. I believe that plan would actually work pretty well.” Before Sophie could say anything more, Terezi piped up.  
  
“Wow, John. I’m perpetually impressed by the fact that you actually are smart. You look and act like a dingus, but when it really comes to it, you can come up with some pretty smart shit.” The air manipulator gave the ginger an exasperated look while the rest of the wielders had themselves a good laugh at John’s expense.  
  
“Wow, Terezi. I’m perpetually amazed by the fact that you’re a bitch,” he said in retaliation. All Terezi did was grin widely.  
  
“Of course I am. But you love me all the same.” Sophie stepped in, preventing them from bickering back and forth for an indeterminate amount of time.  
  
“Alright, alright. Let’s test John’s theory, shall we?” With that, the instructor turned to the main part of the training room, and the eight of them began their hands on training for the day.  
  
After an hour, Rolanda returned just as they were finishing the last scenario. She had to shield her face from the torrent of water that swept by her as she walked in.  
  
“Very good, Rose! And you wiped your enemy out with that last move. That concludes training for today. You all did a damned good job. Go eat lunch as a reward.” Sophie was soaked through courtesy of Rose and John creating a mini hurricane during one of the scenarios. The group gave a collective, relieved sigh as all of them were tired from running around and using their powers in various ways that they hadn’t thought of previously. Calliope spotted Rolanda and got Feferi’s attention. The two of them walked over to the head scientist.  
  
“Hey there, you two. How did training go today?” asked Rolanda, smiling at them.  
  
“It was actually pretty amazing. I know we’ve worked with some of the other wielders before, but having John with us actually helped the tension a lot,” said Feferi.  
  
“I agree with Feferi. Having someone there that has indefinitely made us feel welcome really helped our teamwork and working with others. He actually incorporated us in his first plan, and that panned out the rest of the session. Whenever others came up with plans after that, we were factored in. Not to mention, we were even able to contribute to plans as well for various scenarios. It was, by far, the most successful training session we’ve been to, Rolanda. I’m very happy you made the decision to bring us to this one,” affirmed Calliope. She gave a very small bow of appreciation to Rolanda who just brushed it off.  
  
“I just figured it was time to introduce you to some of the others as well as some of the ones you battled against previously in order to give you a new sense of their powers. You two have been doing so well, I wanted to reward you with a little challenge and trust. It would appear that was a smart move on my part.” The scientist smiled at them before continuing. “Now, as Sophie said, shall we reward you for a job well done with food? Would you like to eat lunch with the others? You’ll be joined by some of the older adults for lunch time. Would you be amenable to that?” Calliope and Feferi looked at one another, suddenly a little wary of the potential of being with the older adults, seeing how many of them were killed due to them. However, at that moment, John walked up and put a hand on each of their shoulders.  
  
“We’d love it if you two joined us for lunch! And if anything, you can ignore the adults. They aren’t supposed to be judgmental, but I expect they’ll be hurt and scared by you two for what happened previously. Just don’t let it get to you. You’ll have all of us! We’ll protect you two!” He gave a beaming smile at the two girls that they couldn’t help but return.  
  
“Fin. As long as you all are there as whale. It shoald be fin,” Feferi stated, fish puns lacing her speech, causing John to chuckle.  
  
“And you, Callie? Can I call you Callie?” Calliope found herself blushing a slight bit.  
  
“Of course you may call me Callie. You may call me as you desire. It makes no difference to me. And as Feferi stated, it should be fine as long as you six are there to help buffer any potential… situations… that may arise. We’d be willing to join you,” she said. The others from the group walked up, smiling at them.  
  
“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine with us. No one will dare mess with you as long as I’m there!” exclaimed Terezi.  
  
“Yeah, because you’re too crazy even for the strangest of the older adults. They’re all wierded out by you,” said Karkat, arms crossed and head turned. In retaliation for those words, Terezi punched the blood manipulator in the arm, causing him to cry out in pain. “What the hell?!”  
  
“What happened? I didn’t do anything,” Terezi said, beginning to whistle innocently. Karkat growled at her while the others laughed, including Calliope and Feferi. Rolanda smiled at them all, really happy they were getting along. Hopefully, Eridan would be able to join in the fun with them soon, but she was still trying to break his mind control. It wasn’t going terribly well. She was trying to trigger former memories and feelings without completely opening the floodgates. She was getting nowhere, though, and was heavily considering taking Feferi and Calliope up on their offers to help her with that portion.  
  
The group began moving toward the dining room where the delicious scent of food was wafting from. Calliope and Feferi hesitated, glancing at Rolanda one more time for confirmation. With a nod of her head, the two walked faster and caught up with the group and made their way into the dining room. The eight younger wielders all sat at one end of the table, immediately moving to fill their plates. While Calliope and Feferi had been nervous at first to take too much and eat in front of the others, they’d since become more comfortable with the situation and ate normally now. As usual, John completely loaded his plate.  
  
“Goddammit, John! Save some for the rest of the facility!” shouted Karkat. However, the group knew he didn’t mean it harmfully. He was just teasing the other. John flashed him a grin and began chowing down on the sandwich he’d grabbed from the platter. Rose shook her head at his antics while Karkat gave him an absolutely disgusted look. In all the time they were preoccupied with filling their plates, none of them noticed the looks the older adults were sending them. However, soon enough, Calliope glanced over and caught one of their eyes, noting how the person immediately looked away, a scared look crossing her face. Calliope sighed and returned to her food as the others began varying chatter around her.  
  
“Callie? Is everything ok?” asked John, bringing attention to the small blonde. Her green eyes widened, and she forced a smile on her face.  
  
“Everything is fine. I’ve just found myself tired after the day’s training. This is the most I’ve ever done in one setting,” she said, trying to cover it up. Nepeta jumped on her in a heartbeat.  
  
“You’re not telling everything. What’s wrong? You’re upset,” she stated, tone serious and worried. Seeing everyone’s concerned expressions, she sighed and let her smile drop, her eyes sliding over to look at the older adults. Everyone else followed the line of vision to see the other wielders looking over in caution, some of them scared, some of them angry. There really was no in-between. John frowned, but before he could say anything, Roxy spoke up.  
  
“Hi guys! I see you’ve noticed our new recruits! Meet Calliope and Feferi. They’re both super cool and smart and strong. Mom’s totally worked with them extensively and trusts them enough to let them come here with us, so let’s treat them _nicely_ shall we?” Her voice was oddly hard and not nearly as happy-go-lucky as it normally was. It stunned the others a little to see her behave like that, but they wholeheartedly agreed. All of them made eye contact with the older adults.  
  
“They really are nice and trustworthy,” stated Rose, calmly sipping her tea. Her purple eyes slid over to that end of the table. “Now, remember, folks. This is a non-judgment facility. We give everyone here a chance. You do know what will happen if it’s found you aren’t so friendly, right?” She raised a knowing eyebrow at the older adults, all of which looked around at each other, some of them looking a bit sheepish. However, one of the ones who held an angry look spoke up.  
  
“They murdered our friends! How can we trust them? How can _you_ trust them when they killed some of our own?” Karkat, Nepeta, Terezi, and John seemed ready to shoot off their mouths with some form of a retort when Roxy and Rose spoke up at the same time.  
  
“Because our mother trusts them.” Rose continued.  
  
“If my mother did not trust them, they would not be out here, exposed to everyone else. True, they killed some of our members, but there were extenuating circumstances in which their hands were forced. There was no other way or path for them to take. We’ve killed before, have we not? Joel, I specifically remember you being a part of that mission a couple years ago when the wielder needed to be exterminated because there was no way he’d have been able to be reformed. And yet, you pass judgment on these two who were forced to behave in such a way by their superior. What a shame. I used to think highly of you.” Purple eyes were hard as her face remained stoic. Joel was taken aback by the sudden speech coming forth from the normally quiet and reserved water manipulator.  
  
“What makes you think I care about your opinion?” he asked, not quite being able to mask the slight hurt that laced his voice.  
  
“Oh you care, Joel-y boy. Especially since our mother is someone _you_ look up to. You’re a scientist, ain’t ya? You want to work with her, right? Well, if you’re this judgmental, there’s no way she’d let you anywhere near what she does. She’s not only a scientist. She’s also the Head Interrogator. You’d be shadowing her with that, too. And, quite frankly, you aren’t cut out for it. Not if you’ll treat these two how you are right now. Say ‘adios’ to the possibility of working with her if _we_ don’t think highly of you and your ability to handle all sorts a situations,” said Roxy, smirk on her face.  
  
“That’s not fair! You are threatening me and my future just for the sake of these two murderers? Where the hell is the third one, anyway? Why isn’t he with them? Was he too far gone and killed already? That’d be fucking nice if he were,” said Joel, crossing his arms and glaring at the two Lalondes. The last bit infuriated Feferi, however, as she promptly stood up and slammed her hands on the table, glaring at Joel.  
  
“Listen here, asshole! Rose and Roxy are telling the truth! Our hands were tied. It was either we behave how my mother wanted us to or we would be killed, in Callie’s case, or mind controlled to kill anyway, in my case! If we wanted to survive, which we did, we needed to attack and even kill! And don’t you DARE talk about Eridan that way! He’s been mind controlled, you insensitive PRICK! Of course he isn’t up here with us yet! He isn’t safe to be around anyone else at this point while Rolanda is still bringing him out of the YEARS of mind control my mother put him through after MURDERING HIS FATHER AND BROTHER RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM!” she screamed. The air almost crackled with her rage, everyone feeling a drain on them as she sucked the life out of the room in her fury. John reached out and put his hand on hers at the same time Calliope put her hand on Feferi’s shoulder. Both of them felt a noticeable drain in their energy, but held on as they tried to calm the enraged life wielder. Feferi breathed hard as life ran into her from her surroundings. However, she quickly noticed that she was beginning to subconsciously drain the life from the two currently touching her and shook herself out of it. She let out a long exhale, the life she’d taken returning to the room as she concentrated on giving back the life she’d inadvertently stolen from John and Calliope.  
  
“It’ll be ok, Feferi. Eridan will snap out of it. You’ll be back with him soon. I just feel it,” encouraged John, giving her a reassuring smile. Calliope squeezed her shoulder and gave her a smile as well.  
  
“We can talk to Rolanda about helping out with him once more after lunch if you want.” The small blonde turned back to the older adults, all of whom appeared afraid for their lives after that display of pure power. “Next time, think before you speak so callously. It is unbecoming of one to wish death on another being. Not everyone can be in control of the situation in which a poor decision or series of decisions are made. You cannot blame him and wish him ill for a circumstance which was beyond his control, knowing or no. You are still wishing another human being, another wielder with exceptional powers, death. I believe you need to reevaluate your stance on a great many things before spouting that someone deserves a certain punishment for a crime they have not even yet been convicted of and proven to have committed. You have a very uncompassionate soul, sir.” Everyone at the table was silent following the retort Calliope issued as she hugged Feferi and asked once more to make sure she was ok. Finally, Terezi felt it time for her to jump into the fray to deliver one last statement.  
  
“Justice will be served, Joel. Don’t you worry about that. However, Justice will be served in different manners for different infractions. In these two’s cases, just the fact that they are being kept from the populace of members until they’ve proven themselves trustworthy is justice enough for them. Eridan’s justice is being served via the methods of bringing him out of his mind control and the emotional damage it will take on him when he is finally clear-minded. You do not get to decide the punishments or the severity of the infractions in relation to the grand spectrum of the universe. Only the universe may do so and will deliver only what is needed to make things right and to amend them if amends need to be made. Keep your nose out of things it needs not be in. And if you don’t, you’ll find yourself living with either tinnitus or deafness courtesy of a perfectly controlled soundwave.” She smirked at him in a threatening manner. The rest of the adults remained silent, eyes darting back and forth between the young adults and Joel. They were all too afraid to move, however, until they were sure the argument would be over. When it appeared nothing else was going to be said, most of the older adults got up from the table and darted out of the room, keeping their heads down in shame and fear. The young adults were ruthless when it came to protecting their own. The adults were just beginning to realize the younger ones were more powerful for a reason other than their unique abilities.  
  
With most of the adults gone and the rest too quiet to be much of a disturbance, the group turned back to one another. The looks in their eyes said that they’d support each other no matter what as they all continued eating. Their conversations picked back up as the tension in the air finally began clearing. It wasn’t too long afterward that Rolanda appeared in the dining room. The group, at that point, were all laughing about something that had just been brought up. Rolanda cleared her throat, garnering everyone’s attention.  
  
“Calliope? Feferi? It’s time for us to head out. There are a few things I wouldn’t mind some of your help with, but for now, let’s just get back to the basement. OK?” she said, a smile on her face and a calm, reassuring tone lacing her voice. “Sorry to take them away from you folks. I’m sure they’ve had a great time.” Calliope and Feferi shared a look that vaguely echoed one of happiness and stood.  
  
“We did have quite the great time. And we believe our time here will be a little easier from here on out, honestly,” stated the short blonde. Feferi nodded enthusiastically as they flanked Rolanda, beginning to speak about the events of lunch and how the others stood up for them.  
  
As they reached the basement, both girls saw Eridan chained to the interrogation chair. Calliope’s smile dropped, and Feferi gasped, anger quickly taking over her emotions. Rolanda immediately turned around in front of them, blocking their partner from their view temporarily.  
  
“You’d both stated that you wished to offer help in breaking his mind control when I first questioned you, correct?” Both girls tentatively nodded, not really sure where the scientist was going with her train of thought. “Well, I’ve tried about every humane thing I can think of under the sun that I can do by myself. Nothing is working. No memories are being triggered. He’s basically damn well tuning me out. Now, what I’m wanting is both of you to talk with him. Figure out how he’s feeling, where he stands on his morality. Feferi, if need be, I want you to start sharing stories with him from before the mind control. I feel like, psychologically, that should at least put a crack in the floodgates. The rest would need to be up to him to ensure he doesn’t become a vegetable. Do you two understand?” The tall blonde stood with her heel-clad feet shoulder-width apart, clipboard in her hands behind her back, and back ram-rod straight. In the background, Eridan leaned back against the chair, hands as usual encased in steel. He looked extremely bored. Feferi and Calliope looked at one another and met Rolanda’s look.  
  
“Fine. But you stay out of it. I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but let us handle it for now,” said Feferi, tone hard and unswaying. Rolanda gave a swift nod and moved out of the way, staying back to let the girls have their space. She could only hope they would be successful where she had failed. If something they did worked, it may help in future cases she was sure they’d begin having as soon as the next attack.  
  


~~~~~~~~~~Elsewhere~~~~~~~~~~

  
  
“Fiiiiiiiially! Now I think we’re getting somewhere. Jesus, Sollux. You SUCK at teamwork!” Vriska bitched at the end of a particularly grueling training session. She was sweaty and had a small headache growing in her head, right on her temples, so she knew it was a tension headache. She rolled her head to crack her neck and rolled her shoulders as the psionic scoffed at her.  
  
“I suck at teamwork? You suck at leading. Get over yourself, you two-bit whore of a shit leader.” He sighed and shoved his tingling hands in his pockets. They still resonated with the charged energy he’d been throwing around the room for the last several hours, and he was ready to work that out with a hardcore coding session.  
  
“You and your need to have two’s in every aspect of your life. Of COURSE you would call me a ‘two-bit whore.’ You are soooooooo predictable.” The blonde placed a hand on her hips and sneered at Sollux.  
  
“I’m predictable? At least I don’t have some shitty obsession with the number eight. Two is a reasonable number. Eight? Shit. Just like you. Piss off,” he bit out, heading out the door. Vriska glared at him and narrowed her eyes, preparing her mind to take over his when one of the other two in the room stepped in front of her.  
  
“Knock it off, Vriska. You know that won’t help anything. We’re supposed to be working together, are we not? What will fighting with one another verbally accomplish? Nothing, that’s what. Now, get your over-inflated ego out of your ass and move on,” an alto feminine voice spoke out. Crystalline blue eyes shone brightly behind red cat-eye glasses, red-tinted lips turned down in a frown. Vriska’s own blue eyes looked the other up and down, evaluating her before rolling her eyes and side-stepping her.  
  
“Whatever. It’s not like I actually care. I’m just following orders, after all.” The other girl raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.  
  
“Oh really? Then why are you so gung-ho about being the leader in this instance, but not actually learning how to lead properly by getting your team to work together _as Empress instructed_? It’s like, you want to pick and choose what things you want to put yourself fully into, like giving orders, and try your best to ignore the aspects you don’t like, such as working with another person and not taking all the credit for a job well done. Right?” Vriska glared at her as her lips pulled back in a snarl.  
  
“Mind your own damn business. No need to be an accusatory nosy nelly here,” she snapped right back. It was then that the other male in the room stepped forward, placing a hand on the other girl’s shoulder and narrowing his brilliant green eyes at Vriska.  
  
“Do not take such a tone with Jane, Vriska. All she’s doing is, how did you put it… _following orders_. Yours and Empress’ orders. If you can’t get yourself together, maybe we should talk to Empress and get Jane here to be in charge of the team?” At that, Vriska actually made to attack him when Jane moved more in front of him and held out her hand, eyes glowing lightly.  
  
“Touch him and die, Vriska. You know I can do that. Do you really want to mess with me?” The mind controller stopped in her tracks and looked back and forth between the two in front of her. The threat of losing her life over something that stupid almost made her laugh, but the fear of dying so young prevailed.  
  
“Fine. Whatever. I guess I’ll learn to be a better leader or whatever the fuck it is you want me to do. Have fun screwing each other in your perceived victory over me. I’m out.” With that, Vriska turned on her heel and walked out of the training room, hands in her pockets and an angry expression on her face. Once she had completely left, the door slamming shut behind her, Jane turned to her companion.  
  
“I apologize that you got involved in that, Jake. You shouldn’t have had to defend me like that. I’m not my weak, twenty-year-old self anymore.” A smile graced her red lips as she looked at Jake. He offered her a crooked smile of his own, running a hand through his dark hair and adjusting his slipping glasses.  
  
“It’s not a problem, Janey. I couldn’t let Vriska talk to you like that. It wasn’t right. She wasn’t right. She never is, but she’s just cruel enough to be shoved right up Empress’ a-”  
  
“Don’t you dare finish that statement, Jake. You know the walls have ears. You’ll be punished for speaking ill of the three most powerful wielders in this facility.” Jane placed a hand over Jake’s mouth to emphasize the severity of his potential statement. He sighed and removed her hand from his face.  
  
“I know, Jane. But it just gets to me sometimes how unfair all of this is. Like, we’re kept here indefinitely until we are useful for something? How is that any way to live?” Jane just shook her head and grabbed Jake’s hand, leading him to the door.  
  
“We don’t question things, Jake. This is just how it is here. You’re still getting used to how everything operates, so I don’t blame you. You have only been here for two years, after all. Be happy, though. Soon, we’ll get out into the world again and showcase our superiority while showing those S.B.U.R.B. idiots that living in the shadows isn’t what we were meant to be doing. We were meant to rule over those normal people. We are special for a reason and now we finally get to show that. I can’t wait,” she finished with a smile at her companion. Jake stared at her for a moment, contemplating what she said before nodding ever so slightly.  
  
“You’re right, Jane, as always. I really shouldn’t question things too much. Having been part of S.B.U.R.B. and all of you showing me the error of my ideology there if the best thing that could have been done for me.” Jane gave Jake a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.  
  
“Darned tooting right is what you are with that, Jake. We really are special for a reason. I’m so glad we rescued you from that organization. I shudder to think on how you used to be two years ago.” Jake chuckled a little.  
  
“Yeah. I was pretty lofty with my ideas of how the world should be. I just really wish we could get my sister away from all of that, too. She’s normally the one with the brains, but she stays there, and I can’t figure out why. Hasn’t L.O.R.D. dropped any hints that I’ve changed my allegiance? Any at all when those others have been out and about?”  
  
“Honestly, Jake, I’m not sure. I really have no idea, but I’m with you on your thinking. We need to get your sister away from S.B.U.R.B. as well as my little brother. I haven’t seen him since I came here, but I know he’s with them. The reports we’ve gotten in have been too accurate a depiction for how he would have grown up for me to ignore.” Jane’s face took on a look of determination as she considered how her little brother would have grown up. “He’s there. I know it. And he needs to be rescued, too.” Jake gave her a look of confusion.  
  
“I know we’ve talked about him before, but who do you believe your brother to be, again?” Her blue eyes met his green.  
  
“My little brother is John. John Egbert.”


End file.
